Thuringian Landestheater Chorus, Thuringian Symphony Orchestra and Konrad Bach - Wagner, S.: Barenhauter (Der) (1994)

A man serves as a soldier, but when the war ends, he returns home to learn that both of his parents have died and that his brothers have no place for him.

While walking in a heath, the soldier meets a man with a green coat and a horse's hoof before shooting a bear that is charging at them. The Devil then offers to make the soldier rich if for seven years, he will neither cut his hair, clip his nails, bathe, nor cite the Lord's Prayer, and wear a coat and cloak. If the soldier survives, he will be rich and free, but if he dies, the Devil will claim his soul. The desperate soldier agrees, and the Devil makes him wear both the green coat - telling him that he will find its pockets always full of money - and the dead bear's skin, telling him that he must sleep in it and will be known as Bearskin because of it.

Bearskin sets out, donating money to the poor and asking them to pray for him to live out the seven years. After three years, Bearskin becomes so revolting that he must pay heavily to get any shelter. In the fourth year, he hears an old man lamenting and persuades him to tell his tale: the old man has lost all his money and does not know how to provide for his three daughters nor pay the innkeeper, so he will be jailed. Bearskin pays the innkeeper and gives the old man a purse of gold as well.
1909 illustration by Otto Ubbelohde which depicts the Devil thanking Bearskin for his help

The old man thanks Bearskin by allowing him to marry any of his three daughters. The oldest daughter runs away in fear. The middle one says that Bearskin is worse than an actual bear passing off as human. The youngest daughter agrees to fulfill her father's promise. Bearskin gives his fiancée one half of a ring and promises to return in three years. The maiden then dresses in black, waiting for her betrothed as her sisters mock her endlessly.

At the end of the seven years, Bearskin finds the Devil again and demands that he fulfill his promise. The Devil then proceeds to bathe Bearskin, clip his nails, cut his hair, and say the Lord's Prayer. The Devil warns Bearskin not to push his luck, as he has already won their bargain, and disappears. Clean and rich, Bearskin dresses himself as a fine gentleman and goes to the old man's house, where the older sisters serve him, but his bride does not recognize him. Bearskin tells the old man that he will marry one of his daughters. The two older sisters run off to dress splendidly, and Bearskin drops his half of the ring into a wine cup and gives it to his bride. She drinks the wine and upon finding the half ring, realizes that he is her bridegroom and they marry.

When they realize that Bearskin is the suitor they had rejected, one sister hangs herself in a rage and the other drowns herself. That night, the Devil knocks on the door to tell Bearskin that he has gotten two souls for the price of one.