The Flying Dutchman and Other Folktales from the Netherlands

Copyright © 2008 by Theo Meder

One day, there was a man who arrived at a stream with a goat, a cabbage, and a wolf. There was a small boat with which he could row his load to the other side. However, he could only carry one thing at a time. What did he have to do?

If he were to bring the cabbage to the other side first, the wolf would eat the goat. If he brought the wolf to the other side first, the goat would eat the cabbage.

So first of all, he brought the goat to the opposite side. The cabbage would be safe with the wolf, who had no taste for cabbages. Then the man brought the cabbage to the other side. However, he put the goat in the boat again and rowed back, because the goat was not to be trusted alone with the cabbage. Next, the goat went out of the boat, while the wolf went in and was brought to the other side. After that, the man went back to bring the goat to the opposite side again. So the goat made three trips altogether.

This riddle is internationally known as folktale type ATU 1579, Carrying Wolf, Goat, and Cabbage across Stream. It was told on September 16, 1974, in the Frisian language to collector A. A. Jaarsma by the working-class storyteller Bonne Dijkstra, who lived in Molenend (Friesland). His version of the riddle has not been published before, and the translation is based on the Jaarsma Collection, report 1145, tale no. 18 (archive and Dutch Folktale Database, Meertens Instituut, Amsterdam).