The Six Hungry Beasts

Andrew Lang was a Scots poet, novelist, and literary critic. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. Lang gave many of the tales their first appearance in English.
Andrew Lang included The Six Hungry Beasts in The Crimson Fairy Book.
Once upon a time there lived a man with his wife in a hut. They did not mind being alone, and would have been quite happy, if it had not been for a marten, who came every night to their poultry yard, and carried off one of their fowls. The man laid all sorts of traps to catch the thief, but instead of capturing the foe, it happened that one day he got caught himself, and falling down, struck his head against a stone, and was killed...