This story is told within the frame of Latronis Filii, and is told in exchange for the life of the second two of the bandit's sons.
An old bandit continues the narrative of his adventures, following the story Polyphemus. After escaping from the blinded giant, the bandit runs into the wilderness. After wandering for days, he comes to a valley where he sees the bodies of three thieves hung from a gallows. Beyond this, he sees small house, where he finds a mother and child, weeping. The mother explains that they have been held captive by horrible creatures - witches or demons - who eat humans, and have ordered her to cook her baby for them to eat. The bandit goes to the gallows, cuts down the body of one of the thieves, and helps the woman cut him up and cook him; he then takes the baby and the two hide behind the house. As the sun sets, the demons appear, and gather around the cauldron, but they are not convinced that it in fact contains the baby. The bandit overhears them instruct a few of their fellows to check the nearby gallows, and he runs ahead and dangles himself from the beam in place of the death thief. When the demons appear, they cut a chunk of flesh from each other the hanging bodies, including a piece of meat from the bandit's thigh. The bandit binds the wound, and follows them back to the hut - where unfortunately, the meat cut from his body is deemed by far the most delicious. The demons decide to eat all of that body, and they hurry back to the gallows, with the bandit rushing ahead of them. They cut him down, but just as they are about to eat him, a crack of thunder booms (or a cock crows), and the demons flee in terror. When the sun rises, the bandit leaves the valley with the woman and baby, and leads them back to civilisation.
| Striges appears in the following versions and secondary versions
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| Striges is narrated in the following occurrences
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| Striges appears in the following manuscripts
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| This inset story appears in no manuscripts of the database
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