The Devil's Three Gold Hairs

A poor man has a son born under a lucky star. A count, jealous of the prophecy that this boy will marry his daughter, casts the infant into a river. The boy is rescued and raised by a miller. Years later, the count discovers the boy alive and tasks him with an impossible quest: retrieve three gold hairs from the Devil's head. The boy travels to the Devil's house, where the Devil's grandmother takes pity on him. She hides him and, while the Devil sleeps, she pulls out three golden hairs, one at a time. As each hair is removed, the Devil cries out questions in his sleep, and the grandmother answers them. The first hair answers why a well that once flowed with wine now flows with water—a toad blocks it. The second reveals why a tree that bore golden fruit now bears none—a mouse gnaws its root. The third answers why a ferryman cannot leave his post—he must keep ferrrying until someone takes his place. Armed with these answers, the boy returns to the count. He uses the first answer to earn a reward from a king whose well has failed, uses the second to earn riches from another king with a barren tree, and uses the third to trick the ferryman into taking his place. The boy becomes wealthy, the count sees his fortune is sealed, and the boy marries the count's daughter as fate decreed.