The Devil

I am torn. Do I want the beef Wellington with truffled mushrooms, confit potatoes, caramelized shallot with beetroot purée, and thyme jus on the side, or the Grenadier beefburger with fig relish, brie, streaky bacon on top, and paprika fries?

“Don’t forget the starters,” Melissa says, staring at her menu.

“That’s easy, the grilled king scallops. Nothing like scallops with garlic and parsley butter. The samphire adds some green.”

We are sitting in The Grenadier Pub off of Belgrave Square, almost in sight of Buckingham Palace. Melissa tells me this is the most haunted pub in London, which is why she chose it for my Halloween treat.

“For a starter,” she says, “I am thinking of the burrata, and for the main course, the wild mushroom tagliatelle. I’ve not had chestnut gremolata before.”

“To go with our meal,” I say, “may we get a bottle of Croft ten-year-old tawny port?”

“Of course we can.”

After we place our orders, I ask, “And how have you been busying yourself lately?”

“Well, I have been trying to find an agent for my book.”

“Finding the Sacred Wells of England, I assume.” I know she has been writing it for years.

“Yes, without success. I have decided I need to get some articles published to give me a track record.”

“Articles such as . . . ?”

“Well, I have started one on the Devil in fairy tales.”

“The Devil you say!” I quip.

Melissa rolls her eyes and goes on. “There really are many of them. At present, my favorite is Stephen Badman’s translation of The Boy and the Devil.”

There was a lad who decided it had come time for him to make his way in the world. Although resourceful, he had a fault, one which he recognized. He was lazy.

The lad decided, rather than getting work, he would beg for his living. He quickly concluded begging could be as hard as working and would never do.

As he wandered down the road, he pondered upon selling his soul to the Devil and how he might trick the Devil afterwards. Obligingly, the Devil appeared, and a bargain resulted.

The Devil told the lad to continue down the road. He would meet with three old women in turn, and each would grant him a wish. Then the lad would have a few years to enjoy himself until the Devil came to collect him.

From the first old woman, he wished for bags of gold. These he found too heavy to lug around and simply threw it all away for others to find.

From the second old woman, he wished for a sack into which he could wish anything he wanted, and it would not come out until he wished it to.

From the third, he wished for a violin that would force the listeners to dance. Armed with these magical devices, he traveled to a kingdom whose king, too, had made a bargain with the Devil. In exchange for wealth, the king promised the Devil the thing that would first greet him on his return to the castle. The king assumed it would be his dog but turned out to be his only daughter. Rewards and marriage were offered to anyone who could save the princess.

The lad presented himself and had the throne-room floor covered with spiky flax combs. When the Devil appeared to collect the princess, the lad played his violin, forcing the Devil to dance on the flax combs. Then the lad wished the Devil into his sack. Soldiers beat the bag with iron rods. When the lad released the Devil, he slinked off with his tail between his legs.

Years later, the lad, now the prince, was away from the castle and saw the Devil coming down the road to collect him. His magical devices were back at the castle. Instead, he quickly took off his coat, buttoned the buttons, and held it out in front of himself as if it were a sack, calling out, “Come on then. Time for you to get back in the sack.”

The prince never saw the Devil again.

I applaud the story as the server brings our starters.

Fairy Tale of the Month: October 2024 The Devil – Part Two

To Task

We fall silent for a while as we enjoy our delectables.

“It seems to me,” I contemplate as I sample the samphire, “the fairy tales enjoy taking the Devil to task.”

 Melissa thinks about that a second. “Not uniformly. There are four stories in Badman’s collection of Jens Kamp’s tales that have the word ‘Devil’ in the title.  These really span the gamut. For example, the tale What Will the Devil Think of Next.”

The Devil had a split hoof and went to a smithy to get himself shod. While waiting for the smith to make his shoe, the Devil noticed the smith was incredibly neat and clean, despite his occupation. The Devil challenged the smith to not wash, shave, or change clothing for ten years, during which time—and after—the smith would have as much gold as he wanted unless he tried to clean himself up; then his soul would belong to the Devil.

After some hesitation, the smith agreed. It was not long before he found himself shunned by most human company. Eight years passed when, one day, an innkeeper allowed the smith—by now a filthy creature—to sleep in an outbuilding and sit in the stove corner of the inn.

That evening, a small group of businessmen were drinking and playing at cards. The more they drank, the higher the stakes rose. One of them was on a lucky streak and cleaned out his fellows.

As the winner bragged about his ability at cards, the creature by the stove spoke up and offered to play a hand or two. The winner declared he would play with the Devil himself if he had money.  By morning, the businessman was saying he had lost everything he had except his name and his three daughters. The creature suggested he would return all the businessman’s possessions if he could marry one of the daughters.

The two eldest daughters refused to marry the creature, but the youngest—also a stepdaughter—agreed. It was arranged that the creature would return in two years to claim the daughter.

Two years later, a handsome, rich young man appeared in town, throwing grand parties. At one of these gatherings, the young man proposed to the youngest daughter, who turned him down, explaining she was already betrothed. The smith revealed his identity, and they were married.

The next day, as they traveled to the castle he had purchased to be their home, they met the Devil on the road. The Devil was not displeased, explaining that while he had lost the smith’s soul, he had gained two others. It came out that the two vexed older sisters, out of jealousy, had hung themselves.

Melissa’s wild mushroom tagliatelle and my beef Wellington arrive along with the tawny port. After I pour our glasses, silence reigns again until I ask after the third of the four stories.

A wealthy lawyer was on his way to collect or foreclose on a farmer’s debt to him. He fell in with a walking companion, who he soon realized was the Devil. They passed a man trying to drive a reluctant pig before him. He swore that the Devil should come and take the pig.

The lawyer asked the Devil why he did not take up the invitation. The Devil told him that “the old man upstairs” had instructed him to take up only the third invitation that day. A second invitation was passed by when they heard a mother scolding her child.

They got to the farmer, whose land the lawyer had come to foreclose on. The lawyer insisted he would wait no longer, and in anger the farmer shouted, “May the Devil take you.”

That was the third invitation that the Devil had been waiting for.

Fairy Tale of the Month: October 2024 The Devil – Part Three

The Banknotes

Something has been bothering me all evening, but nothing that has anything to do with Melissa’s Devil stories. Yet I must ask her.

“Melissa, what are those banknotes glued to the ceiling all about?”

She chuckles. “That brings us to the haunting here at The Grenadier. Their ghost they have named ‘Cedric.’ The story goes that back in the early eighteen hundreds, the second floor of this pub was a mess hall for the local garrison, and the soldiers used the basement for drinking and gambling.

“One of the grenadiers was caught cheating at cards. As he was unable to pay off his gambling debt, his companions beat him up, and he soon died from the injuries.

“His ghost now haunts the pub. Visitors feel rapid temperature drops, chairs and dishes rattle unaccountably, and there are even reflections in glass of a grenadier’s face.”

“Remarkable,” I say. “But what does that have to do with banknotes glued to the ceiling? I don’t think there’s a spot in any of the rooms that isn’t double layered in them.”

“Well, the notion is that the patrons are leaving money to help pay off Cedric’s gambling debt. Apparently, that has not worked. Cedric still haunts.”

I dig back into my beef Wellington for a bit before asking, “And the fourth tale?”

“Yes, this one is a little more of what I expect to see in a tale that involves the Devil. This one is titled, How the Devil Almost Lost His Pelt.”

There were two brothers, one rich and one poor. The rich brother lived for pleasure, never went to church, and never gave a thought to his poor brother.

The poor brother was of the opposite nature. He lived wisely, always went to church, and would not hear an ill word about his brother.

At last, the rich brother’s high living led to an early death. The poor brother was on the path to his rich brother’s house to be by his side when he passed, when he met the Devil coming to take the rich man’s soul.

The poor man argued with the Devil for his brother’s soul. The Devil did not agree, but as they talked, the poor man scratched a circle of crosses in the dirt around the Devil with his crook.

Although trapped, the Devil would not give up the rich man’s soul, but finally agreed not to take his soul until the night after he died, and if not then, he would give up his claim.

After the rich brother died, the remaining brother sat on his grave after the parson drew a circle around the site, telling the brother not to step outside the circle until the parson returns in the morning and says he can leave the circle “in the name of God.”

At midnight, the Devil appeared and saw how he had been tricked. Try as he did, he could not get into the circle and left in disgust.

Later, the poor brother saw the ghost of the rich brother come to him, saying all was well and he could leave the circle. The poor man made the sign of the cross with his crook, and the Devil fled, dropping a bundle he was carrying that held his pelt, which he’d had to remove in order to take on the guise of the brother.

The Devil bargained with a bag of gold to get his pelt back and apparently surrendered.

Just before dawn, the parson arrived, telling the brother it was now safe to step out of the circle. The brother nearly did but then realized the parson did not say “in the name God,” and he sat back down.

After sunrise, the real parson appeared, and in this way the poor brother saved the rich brother’s soul.

“Excellent,” I say to both the story and the arrival of our dessert; chocolate mousse for me and apple with mixed berries crumble for Melissa. A pleasant way to end our conversation.

Your thoughts?