One morning, a farmer found three cows bound by two chains in his cowshed. He went to the local Priest of advice. He told the farmer to kill the middle cow with an axe. And lo and behold, the leader of the village was lying in bed, beaten to death.

(Oral)

Editor’s note: most of the stories and fragments make some sort of sense to an outsider with a basic exposure to Grimm’s Fairy Tales, but this one raises so many questions. In the context in which this tale was told, the teller and the listener must have some shared lore around the significance of the additional cow and how this linked, via Priest-sanctioned advice, to the village leader through some kind of witchcraft. Chillingly mysterious…

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Drei Kühe in zwei Ketten

Ein Bauer fand am Morgen in seinem Stalle drei Kühe in zwei Ketten. Er holte sich beim Kapuziner Rat. Dieser ging dahin, man soll die mittlere Kuh mit einer Axt totschlagen. Und siehe da, die Vorsteherin des Ortes lag im Bette erschlagen.
(Mündlich)