home with his wife, and they mounted their horses, her steed being
a mare. As they went on their way, it happened that the husband
rode on ahead, while the wife was a little way behind. The
husband's horse, seeing this, neighed, and said to the mare: 'Come
along, make haste; why are you so slow?' And the mare answered:
'It is very easy for you, you carry only your master, who is a thin
man, but I carry my mistress, who is so fat that she weights as much
as three.' When the husband heard that he looked back and laughed,
which the wife perceiving, she urged on the mare till she caught up
with her husband, and asked him why he laughed. 'For nothing at
all,' he answered; 'just because it came into my head.' She would not
be satisfied with this answer, and urged him more and more to tell
her why he had laughed. But he controlled himself and said: 'Let
me be, wife; what ails you? I do not know myself why I laughed.'
But the more he put her off, the more she tormented him to tell her
the cause of his laughter. At length he said to her: 'Know, then,
that if I tell it you I shall immediately and surely die.' But even this
did not quiet her; she only besought him the more to tell her.

Meanwhile they had reached home, and before getting down from
his horse the man called for a coffin to be brought; and when it was
there he placed it in front of the house, and said to his wife:

'See, I will lay myself down in this coffin, and will then tell you why
I laughed, for as soon as I have told you I shall surely die.' So he lay
down in the coffin, and while he took a last look around him, his
old dog came out from the farm and sat down by him, and whined.
When the master saw this, he called to his wife: 'Bring a piece of
bread to give to the dog.' The wife brought some bread and threw it
to the dog, but he would not look at it. Then the farm cock came