There was once a little girl who was obstinate and inquisitive. When her parents told her to do anything, she did not obey them. How could she fare well?
One day she said to her parents, "I have heard so much of Frau Trude. I will go to her some day. People say that everything about her looks so strange, and that there are such odd things in her house, that I have become quite curious!"
Her parents absolutely forbade her, saying, "Frau Trude is a bad woman who does wicked things. If you go to her, you are no longer our child."
But the maiden did not let herself be turned aside by her parents' prohibition and went to Frau Trude.
When she arrived, Frau Trude said, "Why are you so pale?"
"Ah," she replied, her whole body trembling, "I have been so terrified at what I have seen."
"What have you seen?"
"I saw a black man on your steps."
"That was a collier."
"Then I saw a green man."
"That was a huntsman."
"After that I saw a blood-red man."
"That was a butcher."
"Ah, Frau Trude, I was terrified. I looked through the window and saw not you, but, as I truly believe, the devil himself with a head of fire."
"Oho!" said Frau Trude, "then you have seen the witch in her proper costume. I have been waiting for you and wanting you for a long time already. You shall give me some light."
Then she changed the girl into a block of wood and threw it into the fire. When it was in full blaze, she sat down close to it, warmed herself, and said, "That shines bright for once in a way."