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Three army surgeons were travelling about the world, believing they had mastered their art, and came to an inn where they wished to spend the night. The innkeeper asked where they came from and where they were bound. “We travel the world practising our art.” “Then show me what you can do,” said the innkeeper. The first said he would cut off his hand and heal it back on the next morning; the second said he would tear out his heart and heal it back in the next morning; the third said he would put out his eyes and heal them back in the next morning. “If you can do that,” said the innkeeper, “then you have indeed mastered your art.” Now they had an ointment that healed together whatever they rubbed it on, and they always carried the little bottle with them. So they removed their hand, heart, and eyes, just as they had said, laid them together on a plate, and gave them to the innkeeper. The innkeeper gave the plate to a maid, telling her to put it in the cupboard and keep it safe. But the maid had a secret sweetheart, who was a soldier. When the innkeeper, the three army surgeons, and everyone else in the house were asleep, the soldier came and wanted something to eat. The maid unlocked the cupboard and fetched him some food, but in her delight at being with him she forgot to shut the cupboard door. She sat down at the table beside her sweetheart, and they chatted together. As she sat there so happily, never dreaming of any misfortune, the cat crept in, found the cupboard open, took the three surgeons’ hand, heart, and eyes, and ran off with them. When the soldier had finished eating and the maid went to put away the dishes and lock the cupboard, she saw that the plate the innkeeper had entrusted to her was empty. In alarm she said to her sweetheart, “Oh, what is a poor girl like me to do! The hand is gone, and the heart and eyes are gone too. What will become of me tomorrow morning?” “Hush,” said the soldier, “I’ll get you out of this scrape. There’s a thief hanging on the gallows outside; I’ll cut off his hand. Which hand was it?” “The right.” So the maid gave him a sharp knife, and he went and cut off the poor sinner’s right hand and brought it back. Then he caught the cat and put out its eyes; now only the heart was missing. “Haven’t you slaughtered a pig, and isn’t the pork down in the cellar?” “Yes,” said the maid. “Well, that’s good,” said the soldier, and he went downstairs and fetched a pig’s heart. The maid put everything together on the plate and set it in the cupboard, and after her sweetheart had said goodbye, she went peacefully to bed.

In the morning, when the army surgeons got up, they told the maid to fetch the plate with the hand, heart, and eyes on it. She brought it out of the cupboard, and the first held the thief’s hand against his wrist and rubbed it with his ointment; at once it grew fast to him. The second took the cat’s eyes and healed them into place; the third fastened the pig’s heart inside himself. The innkeeper stood by, marvelling at their skill, and said he had never seen the like, and would praise and recommend them to everyone. Then they paid their bill and travelled on.

As they went along, the one with the pig’s heart would not stay with the others, but whenever he came to a corner, he ran over and snuffled about in it, as pigs do. The others tried to hold him back by his coattails, but it was no use: he tore himself free and ran wherever the filth lay thickest. The second was behaving strangely too, rubbing his eyes and saying to one of the others, “Comrade, what is this? These aren’t my eyes. I can’t see a thing! Someone lead me, so I don’t fall.” With great difficulty they made their way onward until evening, when they came to another inn. They entered the taproom together, and there in a corner sat a rich gentleman at a table, counting money. The one with the thief’s hand walked around him, his arm twitching several times, until at last, when the gentleman turned away, he reached into the pile and took out a handful of money. One of the others saw him and said, “Comrade, what are you doing? You mustn’t steal! Shame on you!” “Why,” he said, “how can I help it? My hand keeps twitching. I have to grab things, whether I want to or not.” After that they lay down to sleep, and as they lay there it was so dark that they could not see a hand before their faces. All at once the one with the cat’s eyes woke up, roused the others, and said, “Brothers, look! Do you see those little white mice running about?” The other two sat up, but could see nothing. Then he said, “Something is wrong with us. We haven’t got our own parts back. We must return to the innkeeper—he has cheated us.” So the next morning they set off for his inn and told him they had not been given back their proper parts: one had a thief’s hand, the second a cat’s eyes, and the third a pig’s heart. The innkeeper said the maid must be to blame and was about to call her, but when she had seen the three coming, she had slipped out through the back door and never returned. Then the three said he must give them a great deal of money, or they would send the red cock flying over his roof and burn his house down. So he gave them all he had and all he could scrape together, and the three went away with it. It was enough to last them all their lives, but they would still rather have had their own proper parts.