Frederick and Catherine

Once upon a time there was a man named Frederick and a woman named Catherine. They were married and lived together as a young couple. One day Frederick said, "I am going to plow now, Catherine. When I come back, I want some roast meat on the table for my hunger and a fresh drink for my thirst." "Just go, Frederick," answered Catherine, "just go, I will have everything ready for you."

When dinner time came, she took a sausage from the chimney, put it in the frying pan, added some butter, and set it on the fire. The sausage started to sizzle and hiss. Catherine stood by the pan, holding the handle, and thought about things.

Then she thought, "While the sausage is cooking, I could go down to the cellar and draw some beer." So she set the pan safely on the fire, took a jug, and went down to the cellar. The beer flowed into the jug, and as she watched it, she thought, "Oh dear!

The dog upstairs is not tied up. He might get the sausage out of the pan. Good thinking!" In a flash she ran up the cellar steps, but the dog already had the sausage in his mouth and was dragging it across the floor.

Catherine, not one to be idle, chased after him far into the field. But the dog was faster than Catherine and skipped over the furrows with the sausage. "What's gone is gone!" said Catherine, and turned back. She was tired from running, so she walked slowly and cooled herself down.

Meanwhile, the beer kept running from the cask because Catherine had not turned off the tap. When the jug was full and there was nowhere else for the beer to go, it spilled onto the cellar floor and did not stop until the whole cask was empty.

As soon as Catherine came to the steps, she saw the disaster. "Good heavens!" she cried. "What shall I do so Frederick doesn't find out?" She thought for a while and then remembered that up in the attic there was a sack of fine wheat flour from the last market.

She would bring it down and sprinkle it over the beer. "Yes," she said, "he who saves when he should, has it later when he needs it." So she climbed up to the attic, carried the sack down, and threw it straight onto the beer jug, which she knocked over.

Frederick's drink also swam in the cellar. "That's all right," said Catherine, "where one is, the other should be too." And she scattered the flour over the whole cellar. When she was done, she was delighted with her work and said, "How clean and nice it looks here!"

At noon Frederick came home. "Now, wife, what do you have ready for me?" "Oh, Frederick," she answered, "I was frying a sausage for you, but while I was drawing the beer to drink with it, the dog took it from the pan.

While I was chasing the dog, all the beer ran out. While I was drying the beer with flour, I knocked over the jug too. But don't worry, the cellar is quite dry now." Frederick said, "Catherine, Catherine, you should not have done that—letting the sausage be carried off, the beer run out of the cask, and then throwing out all our flour as well!" "Really, Frederick, I did not know that.

You should have told me." The man thought, "If my wife is like this, I must look after things better."

Now he had saved a good number of silver coins, which he changed into gold, and he said to Catherine, "Look, these are counters for playing games. I will put them in a pot and bury them in the stable under the cow's manger. But mind you stay away from them, or it will be the worse for you." She said, "Oh no, Frederick, I certainly will not go there."

When Frederick was gone, some peddlers came to the village with cheap earthen bowls and pots. They asked Catherine if she wanted to buy anything. "Oh, dear people," said Catherine, "I have no money and can buy nothing. But if you can use yellow counters, I will buy from you." "Yellow counters?

Why not? But let us see them." "Then go into the stable and dig under the cow's manger, and you will find the yellow counters. I am not allowed to go there." The rogues went, dug, and found pure gold.

They grabbed it, ran away, and left their pots and bowls in the house. Catherine thought she must use her new things, and since she had enough kitchenware already, she knocked the bottoms out of all the pots and set them as decorations on the fence around the house.

When Frederick came home and saw the new decorations, he said, "Catherine, what have you done?" "I bought them, Frederick, for the counters that were under the cow's manger. I did not go there myself; the peddlers had to dig them out." "Oh, wife," said Frederick, "what have you done? Those were not counters but pure gold, all our wealth! You should not have done that." "Really, Frederick," she said, "I did not know that. You should have warned me."

Catherine stood for a while and thought. Then she said, "Listen, Frederick, we will soon get the gold back. We will run after the thieves." "Come then," said Frederick, "we will try. But take some butter and cheese with you so we have something to eat on the way." "Yes, Frederick, I will take them." They set out.

Frederick was the faster walker, so Catherine followed him. "It is to my advantage," she thought, "when we turn back, I will be a little ahead." Then she came to a hill with deep ruts on both sides of the road.

"You can see," said Catherine, "how they have torn and scraped the poor earth. It will never be whole again as long as it lives." Out of compassion, she took her butter and smeared it into the ruts left and right so the wheels would not hurt the earth so much.

As she bent down in her kindness, one of the cheeses rolled out of her pocket and down the hill. Catherine said, "I have made my way up here once; I will not go down again.

Someone else can run and fetch it back." So she took another cheese and rolled it down. But the cheeses did not come back. So she let a third roll down, thinking, "Maybe they are waiting for company and do not like to walk alone." When all three stayed away, she said, "I do not know what that means.

Maybe the third could not find the way and got lost. I will send the fourth to call it." But the fourth did no better than the third. Catherine got angry and threw down the fifth and sixth as well, and those were her last.

She stood for a while waiting for them to come back, but they still did not come. Then she said, "Oh, you are fine ones to send looking for death! You stay away a long time! Do you think I will wait any longer?

I will go my way; you can run after me. You have younger legs than I." Catherine went on and found Frederick, who was waiting for her because he wanted something to eat. "Now let us have what you brought," he said. She gave him the dry bread.

"Where are the butter and cheeses?" asked the man. "Oh, Frederick," said Catherine, "I smeared the cart ruts with the butter, and the cheeses will come soon. One ran away from me, so I sent the others to call it back." Frederick said, "You should not have done that, Catherine, to smear butter on the road and let the cheeses roll down the hill!" "Really, Frederick, you should have told me." Then they ate dry bread together.

Frederick said, "Catherine, did you make the house safe when you left?" "No, Frederick, you should have told me to do it before." "Then go home and make the house safe before we go farther, and bring something else to eat.

I will wait here for you." Catherine went back and thought, "Frederick wants something more to eat. He does not like butter and cheese, so I will take a handkerchief full of dried pears and a jug of vinegar for him to drink." Then she bolted the upper half of the door shut, but took the lower door off its hinges and carried it on her back, thinking that if she had the door safe, the house would be well taken care of.

Catherine took her time on the way and thought, "Frederick will rest all the longer." When she reached him, she said, "Here is the house door for you, Frederick. Now you can take care of the house yourself." "Oh heavens," he said, "what a wise wife I have!

She takes the lower door off the hinges so everything can run in, and bolts the upper one. It is too late to go back now, but since you have brought the door, you shall carry it farther." "I will carry the door, Frederick, but the dried pears and vinegar jug will be too heavy for me.

I will hang them on the door; it can carry them."

Now they went into the forest and looked for the rogues, but did not find them. When it grew dark, they climbed a tree and decided to spend the night there. No sooner had they sat down at the top than the rascals came—the kind who carry off what does not want to go and find things before they are lost.

They sat down under the very tree where Frederick and Catherine were sitting, lit a fire, and were about to share their loot. Frederick got down on the other side and gathered some stones. Then he climbed back up and wanted to throw the stones at the thieves to kill them.

But the stones did not hit them, and the knaves cried, "It will soon be morning; the wind is shaking down the fir cones." Catherine still had the door on her back, and it pressed heavily on her.

She thought the dried pears were the problem and said, "Frederick, I must throw the pears down." "No, Catherine, not now," he replied, "they might betray us." "Oh, but Frederick, I must! They weigh me down too much." "Do it then, and be hanged!" So the dried pears rolled down through the branches, and the rascals below said, "The leaves are falling."

A short time later, the door was still heavy. Catherine said, "Oh, Frederick, I must pour out the vinegar." "No, Catherine, you must not; it might betray us." "Oh, but Frederick, I must! It weighs me down too much." "Then do it and be hanged!" So she emptied the vinegar, and it sprinkled the robbers.

They said among themselves, "The dew is already falling." Finally Catherine thought, "Can it really be the door that weighs me down so?" and said, "Frederick, I must throw the door down." "No, not now, Catherine; it might give us away." "Oh, but Frederick, I must.

It weighs me down too much." "Oh no, Catherine, hold it fast." "Ah, Frederick, I am letting it go!" "Let it go then, in the devil's name!" The door fell with a loud crash, and the rascals below shouted, "The devil is coming down from the tree!" They ran away and left everything behind.

Early the next morning, when the two came down, they found all their gold again and carried it home.

When they were home once more, Frederick said, "And now, Catherine, you must also work hard." "Yes, Frederick, I will do that soon. I will go to the field and cut corn." When Catherine got to the field, she said to herself, "Shall I eat before I cut, or shall I sleep before I cut?

Oh, I will eat first." So Catherine ate, and eating made her sleepy. She began to cut, half asleep, and cut all her clothes to pieces—her apron, her dress, and her undergarments. When she woke up after a long sleep, she stood there half naked and said to herself, "Is it me or not me?

Alas, it is not me." Meanwhile night came, and Catherine ran into the village, knocked at her husband's window, and cried, "Frederick!" "What is the matter?" "I would very much like to know if Catherine is home." "Yes, yes," replied Frederick, "she must be home and asleep." She said, "That's good, then I am certainly at home already," and ran away.

Outside, Catherine found some vagabonds who were going to steal. She went to them and said, "I will help you steal." The rascals thought she knew the place and agreed. Catherine went ahead of the houses and shouted, "Good people, do you have anything?

We want to steal!" The thieves thought, "That's a fine way to do things," and wanted to get rid of Catherine. They said to her, "Outside the village, the pastor has some turnips in the field.

Go there and pull up some turnips for us." Catherine went to the field and began pulling up turnips, but she was so lazy that she did not gather them together. A man came by, saw her, and stood still, thinking she was the devil rooting among the turnips.

He ran to the village and told the pastor, "Pastor, the devil is in your turnip field, pulling up turnips!" "Oh heavens," answered the pastor, "I have a lame foot; I cannot go out and drive him away." The man said, "Then I will carry you on my back." So he carried the pastor on his back.

When they came to the field, Catherine stood up to her full height. "Ah, the devil!" cried the pastor, and both hurried away. In his great fright, the pastor ran faster on his lame foot than the man who had carried him could run on his healthy one.