There was a miller, who had an ass to turn his mill; and he was
married to a wicked wife, whom he loved; but she hated him and
loved a neighbour of hers, who liked her not and held aloof
from her. One night, the miller saw, in his sleep, one who said
to him, 'Dig in such a spot of the ass's circuit in the mill,
and thou shalt find a treasure.' When he awoke, he told his
wife the dream and charged her keep it secret; but she told her
neighbour, thinking to win his favour, and he appointed with
her to come to her by night. So he came and they dug in the
mill and found the treasure and took it forth. Then said he to
her, 'How shall we do with this?' 'We will share it equally
between us,' answered she; 'and do thou leave thy wife and I
will cast about to rid me of my husband. Then shalt thou marry
me, and when we are united, we will add the two halves of the
treasure, one to the other, and it will be [all] in our hands.'
Quoth he, 'I fear lest Satan seduce thee and thou take some man
other than myself; for gold in the house is like the sun in the
world. Meseems, therefore, it were better that the money be all
in my hands, so thou mayst study to win free of thy husband and
come to me.' 'I fear the like of thee,' rejoined she, 'and I
will not yield up my part to thee; for it was I directed thee
to it.' When he heard this, covetise prompted him to kill her;
so he killed her and threw her body into the empty hole; but
the day overtook him and hindered him from covering it up; so
he took the treasure and went away.
Presently, the miller awoke and missing his wife, went into the
mill, where he fastened the ass to the beam and shouted to it.
It went on a little, then stopped; whereupon he beat it
grievously; but the more he beat it, the more it drew back; for
it was affrighted at the dead woman and could not go on. So he
took out a knife and goaded it again and again, but still it
would not budge. Then he was wroth with it, knowing not the
cause of its obstinacy, and drove the knife into its flanks,
and it fell down dead. When the sun rose, he saw his wife lying
dead, in the place of the treasure, and great was his rage and
sore his chagrin for the loss of the treasure and the death of
his wife and his ass. All this came of his letting his wife
into his secret and not keeping it to himself.