{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/hoe/hoe2-27.htm","path":"neu/hoe/hoe2-27.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/hoe/hoe2-27.htm","text":"The next story, that of the Devil being pounded in a sack, is current in various forms throughout Northern Europe.\nTHE Devil encountered a soldier outside the town, and said to him, \u201cGood friend, please help me to get through the town. I can\u2019t go alone, though I should be very glad to do so, for the two-eyed dogs1 would surround me in every street. They attack me as soon as I enter the town.\u201d\n\u201cI\u2019d be glad to help you,\u201d said the soldier, \u201cbut one can\u2019t do any business without money.\u201d \u201cWhat do you want then?\u201d said the Devil.\n\u201cNot a great deal,\u201d returned the soldier, \u201cfor you\u2019ve plenty of money. If you\u2019ll fill my gauntlet, I shall be quite satisfied.\u201d\n\u201cI\u2019ve as much as that in my pocket,\u201d said the Devil, and filled the glove to the brim.\nThe soldier reflected, and said, \u201cI really don\u2019t know where to put you. Stop! just creep into my knapsack; you\u2019ll be safer there than anywhere.\u201d\n\u201cThat\u2019ll do! But your knapsack has three straps. Don\u2019t buckle the third, or it might be bad for me.\u201d1\n\u201cAll right! Squeeze in.\u201d\nSo the Devil crept into the knapsack.\nBut the soldier was one of those people who don\u2019t keep their word as they ought. As soon as the devil was in the knapsack, he buckled all three straps tight, saying, \u201cA soldier mustn\u2019t go through the town with loose straps. Do you think that the corporal would excuse me on your account if he saw me so untidy?\u201d\nBut the soldier had a friend on the other side of the town who was a smith. He marched straight p. 78 off to him with the Devil in his knapsack, and said, \u201cOld friend, please beat my knapsack soft on your anvil. The corporal always scolds me because he says that my knapsack is as hard and angular as a dry bast shoe.\u201d\n\u201cPitch it on the anvil,\u201d said the smith.\nAnd he hammered away at the knapsack till the wool flew from the hide.\n\u201cWon\u2019t that do?\u201d asked he after a while.\n\u201cNo,\u201d said the soldier, \u201charder still.\u201d\nAnd again the blows hailed on the knapsack.\n\u201cThat\u2019s enough,\u201d said the soldier at last. \u201cI\u2019ll come to you again, if it\u2019s necessary.\u201d\nThen he took the knapsack on his shoulder, and went back to the town, where he pitched the Devil out of the knapsack in the middle of the street.\nThe Devil was crushed as flat as a mushroom. He could hardly stand on his legs. It had never gone so ill with him before; but the soldier had money enough and to spare, and there was some left over for his heirs.\nWhen he died and arrived in the other world, he went to hell and knocked at the door.\nThe Devil peeped through the door to see who it was, and yelled out, \u201cNo, no, you scamp, you\u2019re p. 79 not wanted here; you may go wherever you like, but you won\u2019t get in here.\u201d\nSo the soldier went to the Old God, and told him how it had fared with him. He replied, \u201cStay here now; there\u2019s plenty of room for soldiers.\u201d\nSince that time the Devil has admitted no more soldiers into hell.\n1 Odd stories are told in many countries about the relations between various animals and the Devil. In Esthonia the wolf and the dog are peculiarly hostile to the Devil. In the East it is the ass, concerning which Lane quotes the following amusing explanation in a note to the story of the \u201cPeacock and Peahen,\u201d &c. (Thousand and One Nights, notes to Chap. ix. of Lane\u2019s translation):\u2014\u201cThe last animal that entered with Noah into the ark was the ass, and Iblees (whom God curse!) clung to his tail. The ass had just entered the ark, and began to be agitated, and could not enter further into the ark, whereupon Noah said to him, \u2018Enter, woe to thee!\u2019 But the ass was still agitated, and was unable to advance. So Noah said, \u2018Enter, though the Devil be with thee!\u2019 And the ass entered, and Iblees (whom God curse!) entered with him. And Noah said, \u2018O enemy of God, who introduced thee into the ark?\u2019 He answered, \u2018Thou; thou saidst unto the ass, \u201cEnter, though the Devil be with thee.\u201d\u2019 So it is said that this is the reason why the ass when he seeth the Devil brayeth.\u201d\n1 Jannsen remarks that the third strap would form a cross, and that the three straps might be an allusion to the Trinity.","title":"THE SOLDIER AND THE DEVIL. (JANNSEN.)","type":"page"}