Der Meisterdieb (1978)

Jörg, a runaway serf who had set out into the world, returns to his home village after many years, dressed as a fine gentleman, to visit his parents. He tells them that he has become a master thief. The local Count Thunder ten Tronckh hears of the stranger’s arrival and invites him to his home. When Jörg reveals his identity, the Count demands that he prove he really is a master thief, or he will be hanged. He must steal three things: the Count’s favorite horse, the pastor, and the ring from his wife’s finger, as well as the bedsheet from beneath her. The master thief accepts the wager. At night, disguised as an old woman, he takes a small keg of wine to the guards at the stable. He sells it to them, which later enables him to steal the horse while the drunken guards are asleep. On the following stormy night, he goes to the village church and calls out to the villagers from inside, saying that the end of the world is near, that he is Peter, and that they should climb into the sack in the pulpit so they can pass through the gates of Heaven before the world perishes. The pastor climbs into the sack first, whereupon the master thief, concealed beneath a red robe, carries him off on horseback. On the third night, the Count lies in wait for Jörg by his wife’s bedroom window. He fires what he thinks is a fatal shot at a doll he takes for the master thief, which appears on a ladder at the window, then goes to bed satisfied. Later, the master thief climbs the ladder to the Countess in his nightclothes and pretends to be her husband. He asks her to give him her bedsheet so he can cover the corpse. He also asks her to hand over her ring, since the poor fool died because of it, after all. The next morning, the Count and Countess realize they have been duped. When Jörg comes to see the Count, the Count angrily shoots at him, but the master thief had stolen the bullet from the pistol as well. Having won the wager, he takes his leave and rides on through the world.