There was once a woman and her daughter who lived in a pretty garden with cabbages. A little hare came into it and, during the winter, ate all the cabbages. The mother said to her daughter, "Go into the garden and chase the hare away."
The girl said to the hare, "Sh-sh, hare, you are eating up all our cabbages."
The hare replied, "Come, maiden, seat yourself on my tail and come with me to my little hut." The girl refused.
The next day, the hare returned and ate more cabbages. Again, the mother sent her daughter to drive it away. The girl repeated her plea, and the hare repeated his invitation. Again, the maiden refused.
On the third day, the scene repeated. The mother told her daughter to hunt the hare away. After the girl's protest, the hare once more invited her to sit on his tail and go to his hut. This time, the girl agreed. She sat on the hare's tail, and he carried her far away to his little hut.
"Now cook green cabbage and millet-seed," said the hare. "I will invite the wedding-guests."
Soon, all the wedding-guests assembled. They were all hares. A crow served as the parson to marry the couple, a fox was the clerk, and the altar stood under a rainbow.
The girl, however, was sad and alone. The little hare came and said, "Open the doors, open the doors, the wedding-guests are merry." The bride said nothing but wept. The hare went away.
He returned and said, "Take off the lid, take off the lid, the wedding-guests are hungry." Again, the bride wept silently, and the hare left.
He came back a third time, saying, "Take off the lid, take off the lid, the wedding-guests are waiting." The bride remained silent. After the hare left, she dressed a straw doll in her clothes, gave it a spoon to stir with, placed it by the cooking pot, and returned to her mother.
The little hare came once more. "Take off the lid, take off the lid," he said. He then got up and struck the doll on the head, knocking its cap off.
Seeing it was not his bride, the little hare went away, full of sorrow.