The Severed Hand by Wilhelm Hauff. Short summary

5 seconds

A healer, thinking he is cutting off the head of a corpse for embalming, kills the girl. He is punished by having his hand cut off. The young man never learns the secret of the stranger who paid for the murder.

1 minute

An ambassadorial interpreter and merchant from Constantinople sends his son to study in France as a doctor. Upon his return, the young man learns that his father is dead and the gold left to his son has been taken by the church. The young man sells the house, buys goods and trades them in Europe. One day in Italy, Tsaleikos is found by a man in a red cloak and ordered to follow him. The young man resents this treatment and grabs the stranger. The cloak remains in his hands, and the man runs away.

The owner of the cloak reappears. He needs to cut off and embalm his dead sister’s head to send her back to her father’s homeland. Tzaleikos cuts his throat and realizes that he has killed a living, sleeping girl. The young man flees in terror, and in the morning discovers the loss of his knife and hat.

The whole town talks about the murder of the governor’s daughter. The doctor is sentenced. His hand is cut off and he is released. An unknown man in a red cloak buys his father’s house for the young man and sends him money every year. Tzaleikos never learns of his secret.