One night, two men climbed up by a ladder into a mill with the purpose of robbing the miller, an old man, who was sleeping there. He was known to have money, and the robbers agreed to kill him if he put up any sort of a fight.

"No cock will crow after him," they laughingly said to each other, making use of a proverbial expression signifying no one will grieve for him.

At midnight, when they had just murdered the miller, a cock close by crowed so loudly that the two guilty men were greatly startled. Somewhat shaken by the bird's sudden cry, the two of them hurriedly grabbed all that they could and made off. The murder at the mill caused a great stir in the neighborhood, but the criminals could not be found

About a year later, the two murderers went to an adjacent town to the annual market, with the intention of robbing some of the well-to-do farmers. They took up their quarters for the night in a tavern.

Now as Divine Providence would have it, their room was next to the house where the bird livestock was kept. So later that night, when the clock struck midnight, a cock began to crow so violently that it woke the two men.

"I wish I could get my hands on that cock," one of them said vehemently "I would wring the brute's neck!"

His companion nodded. "Ever since we did that old miller in, I cannot endure the sound of a cock's crow."

Now the men were not aware that the landlord and his wife slept in the next room to theirs. They, too, had been awakened by the bird. And as the walls between the rooms was very thin, the couple overheard every word that the culprits uttered. The landlord got up early the next day and gave the information to the police; the men were arrested immediately, judged, and received the just punishment for their wicked deeds.