you want
now?"

"Well, you see it's this way," the shoemaker explained: "this
tablecloth of the Devil's worked all right last night but it doesn't
work this morning."

The little devil grinned.

"Oh, I see. And you want Prince Lucifer to take it back and give you
something else, eh? Well, I'm sure he will. If you want my advice, I
should say to ask him for that red rooster that sits in the chimney
corner."

The Prince received the shoemaker as kindly as before and was perfectly
willing to exchange the tablecloth for the red rooster.

When the shoemaker got back to the gate, the little devil of a guard
said:

"I see you've got the red rooster. Now I just want to tell you that's no
ordinary rooster. Whenever you need money, all you have to do is put
that rooster on the table and say: 'Crow, rooster, crow!' He'll crow and
as he crows a golden ducat will drop from his bill!"

"What a lucky fellow I am!" the little shoemaker thought to himself as
he hurried back to earth.

As night came on he stopped again at the same tavern and, when it was
time to pay for his supper, he put the red rooster on the table and
said:

"Crow, rooster, crow!"

The rooster crowed and sure enough a golden ducat dropped from his bill.

The covetous landlord licked his greedy lips and hurried off to his
wife.

"We've got a red rooster," the wife said. "I'll tell you what we'll do:
when the shoemaker's asleep we'll trade roosters. He's a simple fellow
and will never know the difference."

So the next morning after breakfast, when the shoemaker put what he
thought was his own rooster on the table and said: "Crow, rooster,
crow!" of course nothing happened.

"I wonder what's the matter with you," he said to the rooster. "I'll
have to take you back to the Devil."

So again he tramped down to hell and explained to the little devil of a
guard that the rooster no longer dropped golden ducats from his bill.

The little devil listened and grinned.

"I suppose you want Prince Lucifer to give you something else, eh?"

The shoemaker nodded.

"I'm sure he will," the little devil said. "He seems to have taken quite
a fancy to you. Now take my advice and ask him for the pair of clubs
that are lying under the oven."

So the shoemaker when he was led again into Lucifer's presence explained
to the Prince that the red rooster no longer worked and please would His
Highness give him something else instead.

The Prince was most affable.

"