Once upon a time there was a farmer who was married. He had a decent wife all right, but she was quite bossy. She did her work at home, but in the meantime he had to go out and work on the land, no matter what the weather conditions were.

One day in late autumn it was hailing, snowing, and storming violently, but the farmer still had to go out to his land, half an hour away from home.

Of course, there wasn't a single soul outside ... well, except for a young horse-dealer who was forced to go out to make a living. There he came along with his horse and wagon, but finally the horse became so exhausted that the man stopped for a while. At this point he heard some distinct sighing.

What can this be? he thought, who can be out here just now?

Then again, he heard someone sighing and he decided to go and have a look. Yes, over there, behind a fence, he saw our farmer standing, shivering with cold.

"Whatever are you doing over there?" he asked.

"Oh," said the farmer, "I've got a decent wife, but she cannot stand me being around."

"Well," the horse-dealer said, "today she will have to. Get on, let me drive you home."

So it happened. After they arrived safe and sound, the horse-dealer/merchant took his time to smoke a pipe. They got into conversation with each other, and the merchant stayed for supper and eventually stayed overnight, because of the bad weather conditions.

Well, I must add that the farmer had a daughter, a dam nice girl. The merchant had difficulty saying good-bye to her. Nevertheless, he had to leave. Because he had had such a pleasant time, he returned to visit the family more than once, and it came to the point that he started courting the farmer's daughter and in the end they agreed to get married. He had barely got into his wedding suit, and the bride was still dressing herself, when he heard his mother-in-law talk to his future wife.

"Girl," she said, "be sure to stay in charge at home, just like me."

The daughter promised to do so.

"That doesn't sound good at all," the merchant thought, but he married her anyway.

After being married for a while, they went to visit the in-laws. Again, the mother-in-law took her daughter apart and asked, "Tell me, are you in charge?"

"Yes," she answered, "pretty much, but not entirely yet."

"Well, take care," said the mother, "and remember: I have always been the boss."

This was. all the merchant overheard, but after they had come home again, he distinctly noticed that his wife became bossier by the day.

As soon as her temper started to annoy him, he said, "We should visit your mother again. It's such nice weather and we have not been there for quite a while."

His wife agreed. He harnessed the oldest nag he had to the wagon and took along his

oldest dog. Now, the dog might be old, but he could still run faster than the horse.

So the man shouted, "Stay behind us!"

The dog kept running in the lead.

"Stay behind!" he shouted once more. "Can't you hear me, darn it?! If I have to say it once again and you won't obey, then I'll stab you to death on the spot."

The dog kept on running though.

"Stay behind, I said," the man shouted for the third time. "Woman, hold the rein for me."

He got down from the wagon and stabbed his dog to death with his knife. A while later, the horse started to stumble.

"Keep steady," the man said.

A bit further, the horse stumbled again.

"Steady, I said," the man warned his horse for the second time. "If I need to say it once more, I will stab and kill you as well."

Well, the nag stumbled again, and the man stabbed him until he was dead as a doornail. There the wagon stood still.

"We have to go on," the man said. "Come on, woman, put the horse-collar on."

"No, I won't," the woman said.

"By Jove," he said. "I am ordering you for the second time now, but don't let me say it a third time."

Trembling from fear, the woman obeyed her husband's command, and off they went to her mother, while he was sitting on the wagon with the horsewhip in his hand. One can imagine that they attracted a great deal of attention. The mother saw this spectacle coming from afar, and all who saw it slapped their knees with laughter.

"Whoever can that be?"

"It is Mrs. so and so."

"No," someone else said, "it is Mrs. so and so."

"It can't be my daughter, that's for sure," said the mother, "because she is the boss."

Alas, as they came closer, she saw that it was her daughter after all.

"What on earth is the matter with you?" she asked.

"Oh mother," the daughter replied, "shut up. He killed the dog and he killed the horse, and if I were disobedient once more, he would have killed me too."

After that the couple led a very happy life ....