Prevod

Once upon a time there was a man who was so cross and ill-tempered that he never thought his wife did enough about the house. One evening in the haymaking season he came home growling and scolding and swearing fit to raise the roof. “Dear me, don’t be so angry, husband,” said his wife. “Tomorrow we’ll change work. I’ll go out with the mowers and cut the hay, and you can look after things at home.” The man thought this a fine idea and was quite willing. Early next morning his wife shouldered the scythe and went out into the meadow with the mowers to cut the hay. The man was to set about the housework. First he meant to churn some butter, but after churning a while he grew thirsty and went down to the cellar to draw some ale. While he was filling the ale bowl, he heard that a pig had got into the room upstairs. Off he dashed with the tap-plug in his hand, up the cellar stairs as fast as he could, to stop the pig from knocking over the churn;

but when he saw that the pig had already upset it and stood smacking its lips over the cream that was flowing across the floor, he flew into such a rage that he quite forgot the ale barrel and chased the pig as hard as he could. He caught up with it in the doorway and gave it such a mighty kick that it lay where it fell. Only then did he remember that he still had the tap-plug in his hand, but by the time he reached the cellar, all the ale had run out of the barrel.

Then he went back to the dairy and found enough cream to fill the churn, and set to churning again, for he was determined to have butter for dinner. After he had churned a while, he remembered that the cow they kept at home was still in the byre and had had neither food nor water, though the day was well advanced. He thought it too far to take her to the pasture, so he decided to turn her out onto the roof instead. The cottage had a turf roof, with fine, tall grass growing on it. It stood beside a steep bank, and he thought that if he laid a plank across to the roof, he could surely get the cow up there. But he dared not leave the churn either, for his little child was crawling about on the floor and might easily knock it over, he thought. So he hoisted the churn onto his back and went outside, but before letting the cow onto the roof, he meant to give her some water. He took a bucket to draw water from the well, but as he bent over the edge, the cream ran out of the churn, down the back of his neck, and into the well. By now it was nearly dinnertime, and he still had no butter, so he thought he would make porridge and hung a pot of water over the hearth. When he had done that, it occurred to him that the cow might fall off the roof and break her legs or her neck, so he climbed up to tie her fast. He tied one end of the rope round the cow’s neck, let the other down the chimney, and tied it round his own thigh, for the water in the pot was already boiling and he had to get on with stirring the porridge. While he was busy with this, the cow fell off the roof all the same and hauled the man up the chimney by the rope. There he stuck, while the cow hung outside the wall, dangling between heaven and earth, unable to get free either. His wife had waited an age and a day for him to come and call them home to dinner;

but no call came. At last she thought this was going too far, and home she went. When she saw the cow hanging there in such a dreadful plight, she went over and cut the rope with her scythe. At that very moment the man fell down the chimney, and when his wife came in, she found him standing on his head in the porridge pot.