The Mythology & Folklore Database

Ahlemann

Reference: 0366

There was once a man named Ahlemann, and he had a wife and four children. One day he wanted to eat some liver, so he said, "Have it ready when I arrive home from work."

His wife went to town and bought a nice large liver. After it was fried, and the husband still hadn't come home, it smelled so good that wanted some ever so much. Finally she sat down and tasted it herself. First she ate just a very little piece, thinking, "He will never notice it." But then she cut off another little piece, and soon the entire liver was gone.

Then she became terribly frightened that her husband would scold her, so she ran to the gallows where someone was hanging whom they had hanged a short time ago. She cut out his liver and fried it.

When Ahlemann came home he sat down, and it tasted marvelous. Afterward he went for beer with his children.

Evening came, and it was already dark. The woman was lying in her bed when she heard something approaching her room. A voice called out, "Where is Ah-lemann? Where is Ah-lemann?"

She said, "Ahlemann has gone for beer with all four!"

But she heard it coming closer and closer, and she called out in fear, "Come Ah-lemann; come Ah-lemann. I am terribly afraid."

But it was to no avail. Suddenly it was standing before her bed, and it broke her neck.