The Husband Who Was to Mind the House Fairy Tale

Once there was a farmer who came home from the fields every evening grumbling at his wife. "I work all day long, while you do nothing at home."

One day his wife said, "Then let's change places tomorrow. I will go and cut the hay, and you will stay at home." The farmer gladly agreed. "Housework is easy."

In the morning he began churning butter. He got thirsty and went to the cellar for a drink, and while he was gone a pig came into the house and knocked over the churn. While he was chasing the pig, he forgot to give the cow water and to feed the baby.

There was no time to take the cow to the pasture, so he put her up on the grassy roof. To stop her falling, he tied a rope round her neck, dropped the other end down the chimney, tied it round his own waist and started to cook porridge.

Suddenly the cow slipped off the roof. Her weight pulled the farmer up the chimney, and there he hung upside down, while the cow dangled at the edge of the roof.

When his wife came home that evening, the cow was on the roof, her husband was in the chimney and the porridge was burnt. She cut the rope and rescued them all. From that day on, the farmer never again told his wife that she did nothing at home.