The Devil's Son

Once upon a time, a wealthy man went to a fair.

On his way, he encountered a well-dressed gentleman. It was the devil himself.

"You seem sad," said the devil to the rich man.

"Why should I be sad?" replied the rich man. "I have everything I need."

"That's true, but if you had children, you would be many times happier."

"That's also true," said the rich man.

"Well then," continued the devil, "exactly nine months from today, you will have two children, provided you promise to give one of them to me."

"I promise," said the rich man. Nine months later, to the day, the rich man's wife gave birth to two boys, Jean and Jacques. Soon after, the devil came and took one of them—Jacques. He took him away and raised him as his own son. The boy grew big and strong; by the age of thirteen, he had a beard like a sapper's.

The devil owned a spinning mill. One day, he said to Jacques:

"I need to leave for a while. In my absence, you will watch over the spinners. Make sure they work diligently."

"Alright, Father."

While overseeing the spinners, Jacques decided to shave. As he was doing so, he noticed in the mirror that one of the spinners behind him was making horns at him. He gave her a slap on the back of the head, and immediately all the spinners—there were twenty-five of them—dropped dead.

Soon, the devil returned home.

"Where are the spinners?" he asked. "Were they working well?"

"They've all laid down—go and see for yourself."

The devil tried to shake them awake; realizing they were dead, he scolded his son.

"Don't you dare do this again," he said.

"Alright, Father, I won't."

The devil brought twenty-five new women to replace the ones who had died, and then said to his son:

"I have to leave again; make sure the spinners don't waste any time."

"Alright, Father."

While the devil was away, one of the spinners annoyed the boy again. He gave her a slap, and all twenty-five women fell dead at once.

When Jacques went out to stroll in the garden afterward, he saw a beautiful lady in white. She beckoned him and said:

"My friend, you are in an evil house."

"What?" exclaimed the boy. "Is my father's house evil?"

"You are not living with your father," continued the lady. "You are living with the devil. Your real father is a rich man who lives far from here. Once, when he was on his way to the fair, he met the devil, who told him he seemed sad about something. Your father replied that he had nothing to be sad about, but the devil persisted and said: 'If you had children, you would be many times happier. So, in exactly nine months, to the day, you will have two children, provided you promise to give one of them to me.' Your father agreed, and the devil took you away. Now, my friend, try to leave this place as soon as possible. But first, look under the devil's pillow. There you will find an old pair of black pants—take them with you. The more money you take out of their pockets, the more money will remain inside."

Jacques told the lady he would follow her advice and returned to the house.

When the devil returned, he saw that all the women were dead again. He was furious.

"If you do this one more time," he said, "I will throw you out of the house."

And that was exactly what Jacques wanted. So, as soon as the devil entrusted him with overseeing the spinners again, he killed them all in one go. This time, the devil kicked him out.

Jacques took the black pants and went straight to his parents. At first, they didn't recognize him, but he closely resembled his brother, and soon they treated him as their own son. However, his father didn't get to enjoy having such a strong man in the house for long.

Although Jacques' parents were wealthy, they still plowed their fields themselves. One day, his brother took him to the field. While they were plowing, one of the horses became stubborn.
— Whip her with the whip, — shouted Jean.

Jacques gave the horse such a lash with the whip that he split it in two. Jean ran home to tell his father what had happened.

— There's nothing to be done! — said the father. — Leave him alone, or he'll kill us all.

Soon the strongman returned home. He carried the plow on his shoulders, and in each pocket, he had half a horse: he had plowed the entire field with the whip handle.

— Father, — he said, — I whipped the horse with the whip, and it split in half.

— It's alright, son, we'll buy another one.

A short time later, there was a festival in the neighboring village. Jean suggested going there. Jacques agreed. Jean walked ahead with his fiancée, and Jacques followed behind. They reached the square where the peasants were dancing. Jacques, without saying a word, watched the dancers until someone decided to trip him for fun.

— Watch out, — Jean said to the joker, — he can knock you down with a single flick.

— I'm not afraid of you or your brother, — the man replied and repeated his prank.

Then the strongman told his brother and his fiancée to step aside, closer to the musicians, and he struck the troublemaker so hard that all the dancers fell dead at once. Jean ran off in a panic, forgetting about his fiancée, while Jacques escorted the girl to her parents. When they reached their house, he asked her:

— Do you live here?

— Yes, — the girl replied.

— Good! Go home. He left her and went on his way.

At home, Jean had already told everything that had happened.

— The gendarmes will come, — he said, — our family will be disgraced throughout the area.

The strongman, upon returning home, locked all the doors with hooks and bolts and told his parents:

— If the gendarmes come for me, tell them I'm not home.

Indeed, around midnight, twenty-five gendarmes arrived; they were let into the barn, and all of them entered. As soon as the strongman saw them, he took a pitchfork and struck the one leading the group — twenty-four gendarmes fell dead immediately, and the twenty-fifth ran off as fast as he could to inform the authorities. However, the matter ended there. The next day, recruiters marched through the village with drum rolls: they announced that all who enlisted as soldiers would receive generous pay. Jacques told his parents:

— I feel like going to serve.

— Son, — said the father, — we are wealthy enough to support you; you don't need this.

— Father, — said the son, — I can see that I will only cause you trouble in the future; it's better if I leave home. — And so he left and joined the military service. Once, the colonel gave Jacques and two other soldiers a note to collect beef — they were supposed to bring fifteen pounds each. All three went to the butcher, and he gave them the beef.

— What, — said Jacques, — is this all? I could eat this portion alone. Quickly, slaughter three bulls for us!

— For that, my friend, you need money.

Then Jacques reached into the pocket of his black pants, and since he couldn't count, he began throwing handfuls of money onto the counter. The butcher collected the money and slaughtered three bulls.

— Now, — said the strongman to his comrades, — we'll each carry a bull.

At these words, the soldiers exchanged glances.

— If it's too hard for you, — said the strongman, — I can manage without you. — He asked the butcher for a rope, tied all three bulls together, and hoisted them onto his shoulders. On the street, all the passersby stopped and looked at him in amazement. The colonel also couldn't believe his eyes. The next day, Jacques was sent to fetch wine; he brought three barrels at once: tied them with a rope and carried them on his back.

All of this didn't sit well with the colonel — he would have been glad to get rid of such a strong soldier. To discourage him from military service, he sent him to guard a cannon in the field, one so heavy that thirty horses couldn't move it, and ordered him to stand guard all night long. The young man quickly grew bored with this task, lay down on the ground, and fell asleep. After an hour, he woke up, hoisted the cannon onto his back, and carried it to the courtyard of the colonel's house. The courtyard was paved. When he set the cannon down, it broke through the pavement. The young man shouted:

— Colonel, here's your cannon! Now you don't have to worry about it being stolen.

Jacques was enlisted as a soldier for eight years; but he was simple-minded and thought he only had to serve for eight days. When eight days had passed, he went to the colonel and asked if his term of service was over.

— Yes, my good man, — said the colonel, — you've already served your time.

Receiving this answer, Jacques bid farewell to the regiment and went to hire himself out to a peasant. Only the mistress was at home; the young man asked her if they needed a worker. She replied:
— My husband has just gone to look for a worker, wait until he comes back.

A little later, the peasant returned; he hadn’t been able to find anyone, and the young man said he was ready to stay in their service: he didn’t need a salary, but after serving for a year, he asked that the owners give him as much grain as he could carry on his back. The peasant consulted with his wife.

— No doubt about it, — they said to each other, — the lad is tall and strong, but there’s no way he can carry more than fifteen bushels.

They shook hands on the deal. The peasant showed him his fields and ordered him to plow them. Two skinny horses were harnessed to the plow. Afraid that even a light flick of the whip might split them in half, the strongman spread his jacket on the ground, placed both horses on it, and harnessed himself to the plow. The peasant’s wife looked out the window and said to her husband:

— Look, the new worker is plowing by himself. We won’t be able to pay him: all our grain will go to settling with him. How can we get rid of him?

Jacques finished plowing, tucked a horse into each pocket, and returned home. The master and mistress pretended to be very pleased to see him.

— Why didn’t you come for dinner? — they asked him.

— I wanted to finish the work first, — the young man replied. — All your fields are plowed.

— Alright, — said the peasant, — you can rest for the rest of the day.

The strongman sat down to eat; he would have gladly eaten everything on the table, but he had to settle for his share.

The next day, the master, determined to destroy him, ordered him to take the grain to a mill from which no one had ever returned. Jacques set off, whistling cheerfully. Arriving at the mill, he saw twelve devils who fled as soon as he approached.

— Alright, — he said, — I guess I’ll have to grind the grain myself.

He called out to the devils, but the louder he called, the faster they ran. He began grinding the grain himself, and when he finished, he told the master’s horse, which he had brought with him, to return home. Seeing the horse alone, without the worker, the mistress was delighted: she thought the young man would never return. But he soon came back, dragging the mill and the millstream behind him. Bringing them to the master’s house, he said:

— Now it’ll be more convenient for me; I won’t have to go so far to grind the grain.

— Good Lord, — said the master and mistress, — what a strongman you are!

They pretended to be very pleased, but in reality, they were deeply annoyed.

One day, the master said to Jacques:

— I need stones — go over there to the quarry and fetch them.

The strongman took a pickaxe and everything needed for cutting stone and descended into the quarry, which was a good hundred feet deep; no one dared to go down there because heavy stones were constantly falling from the walls. He began chipping off huge boulders and hurling them over his shoulder with such force that they landed on houses and broke through roofs. Soon the master came running and shouted:

— Enough! Enough! Be careful! The boulders you’re throwing are destroying houses.

— Oh, come on, — said the simpleton, — these little pebbles! Not knowing what to do, the peasant sent Jacques with a letter to his brother, who was a jailer, and told him to wait for a reply. After reading the letter, the jailer shackled Jacques and locked him in prison, but he didn’t resist, thinking it was the local custom and that this was where people waited for replies.

But finally, he grew tired of waiting, broke the chains, stretched thoroughly, and kicked the door so hard that it flew off to the roof. After that, he went to the jailer and asked:

— Well? Where’s the reply?

— Right, — said the jailer, — I completely forgot. Wait a minute.

The jailer wrote to his brother to get rid of the strongman however he could, as he himself wouldn’t take responsibility for it. Jacques put the letter in his pocket and set off, but then, remembering, he took the prison and the jailer with him and placed it near the master’s house.

— Now, — the young man said to the master, — you’ll be able to see your brother often. — And he added: — Haven’t I already served a year?

— That’s right, — replied the master, — the year is just over.

— Then give me the grain I bargained for. At these words, the master and mistress began to cry and lament.

— We’ll never, — they said, — be able to gather as much grain as you need, even if we collected all the supplies in the village.

The strongman at first pretended to demand payment, but finally said he didn’t want to hurt them and, rummaging in the pocket of his black pants, even gave them some money.

Leaving the peasant, he went wherever his eyes took him and reached the seashore; there he boarded the first ship he found. But one of the sailors, learning that he had pants with pockets full of money, killed him in his sleep and stole the pants. I saw that sailor today, walking around in those very pants.

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The Devil's Son

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