Once upon a time, a poor shoemaker and his wife were nearly starving. To find work, he traveled to Mascalucia. There, he patched shoes for two generous women, earning more than he asked. With his savings, he bought a donkey and set off for home.
In a forest, he encountered robbers. Fearing they would steal his money, he cleverly hid five florins under the donkey's mane. When the robbers seized him and took his visible coins, he pretended the donkey was magical and produced gold. Intrigued, the robbers bought the donkey for fifty gold pieces. The shoemaker warned them to share ownership to avoid fighting.
The shoemaker returned home, bought a vineyard, and enjoyed his gains. Meanwhile, the robbers, taking turns with the donkey, found no gold and realized they had been tricked. Angry, they went to confront the shoemaker.
Anticipating their arrival, the shoemaker devised a plan with his wife. He filled a bladder with blood and tied it around her neck. When the robbers demanded their money back, he pretended to stab her in a rage. As she fell, seemingly dead, he played his guitar, and she rose to dance. Amazed, the robbers bought the "magic" guitar for forty gold pieces.
Back at their cave, the robbers tried the guitar on their own wives, with disastrous results. After all their wives were dead and the guitar proved useless, they sought revenge again.
The shoemaker, seeing them approach, told his wife to say he was in the vineyard and to send their dog to fetch him. He then hid. The dog, trained to return to him, did so. When the shoemaker reappeared, claiming the dog had delivered the message, the robbers were convinced of the dog's intelligence and bought it for forty more gold pieces.
Predictably, the dog kept returning to the shoemaker, tricking each robber in turn. Finally united in fury, the robbers captured the shoemaker, tied him in a sack, and headed to the sea to drown him.
They stopped at a church to rest, leaving the sack by the road. A nearby swineherd heard the shoemaker cry out, "I won't marry the king's daughter!" Envious, the swineherd agreed to switch places. The shoemaker got out, and the swineherd got in.
The robbers threw the sack into the sea. On their return, they met the shoemaker driving a herd of pigs. He claimed the pigs came from the sea and that more treasures lay deeper. Greedy, the robbers tied stones to their necks and jumped in, drowning themselves. The shoemaker drove the pigs home and lived richly ever after.