There was a village where all the peasants were rich except for just one poor one, whom they called the little peasant. He did not own a single cow, and had even less money to buy one with, but he and his wife would have liked to have one ever so much.
One day he said to her, "Listen, I have a good idea. Our kinsman the cabinetmaker should make us a calf out of wood and paint it brown so that it looks like any other calf, and with time it is sure to grow big and be a cow."
His wife liked this idea, and their kinsman skillfully made the wooden calf, painting it to look real, with its head down as if grazing.
The next morning, when the cows were driven out, the little peasant asked the herder to carry his "small calf" to the pasture. The herder agreed, placing it in the grass. That evening, when the herder returned without the calf, claiming it was still grazing, the little peasant insisted on finding it. The calf was gone—stolen. The little peasant took the herder before the mayor, who condemned the herder's carelessness and ordered him to give the little peasant a cow as compensation.
Now the little peasant and his wife had their longed-for cow. However, having no feed, they soon had to slaughter it. The little peasant took the hide to town to sell, hoping to buy a new calf. On the way, he found a raven with broken wings, wrapped it in the hide out of pity, and sought shelter from a storm at a mill.
The miller's wife, alone, gave him bread and cheese and let him sleep in the straw. Soon after, the priest arrived for a secret feast with her. Hearing this, the little peasant was annoyed at his meager meal. When the miller unexpectedly returned, his wife hid the feast—roast, salad, cake, and wine—in various places, and hid the priest in a hallway chest.
The miller, seeing the little peasant, invited him to share his own simple supper of bread and cheese. Afterwards, noticing the hide, the miller asked about it. The clever little peasant claimed it contained a fortune-teller that could reveal four things. By pressing the raven to make it caw, he "translated" its sounds to reveal the locations of the hidden wine, roast, salad, and cake. The terrified miller's wife went to bed.
The miller, eager to know the fifth prophecy, bargained and paid the little peasant three hundred talers. The little peasant then revealed that "the devil" was in the hallway chest. The miller opened it, the priest fled, and the miller, believing he had seen the devil, was convinced.
The little peasant left at dawn with the money. He prospered, building a fine house. When the villagers and mayor demanded to know the source of his wealth, he claimed he had sold his cow's hide for three hundred talers. Envious, the villagers slaughtered their own cows to sell the hides, only to find the hides were nearly worthless. Furious at being deceived, they accused the little peasant of fraud. He was sentenced to death by drowning in a barrel.
As he was led to his execution, he recognized the priest (from the mill) who was to say a mass for him. The little peasant reminded the priest of his earlier rescue and begged for help. Just then, a shepherd who longed to be mayor passed by. The little peasant cried out that he would not become mayor, even if they put him in the barrel. Intrigued, the shepherd asked, and the little peasant explained that whoever got into the barrel would be made mayor. The shepherd eagerly agreed, got in, and the little peasant sealed the barrel and took his flock of sheep.
The villagers rolled the barrel into the water, believing it contained the little peasant. Later, they met the little peasant driving a flock of sheep. He claimed he had reached a beautiful underwater meadow full of sheep. Greedy for more sheep, the villagers, led by the mayor, all jumped into the water and drowned. As the sole survivor, the little peasant inherited the entire village and became a rich man.