ed about everywhere, but no bread was to
be seen. However, all he said was, 'God be with him who took it!'

"The little demon[479] ran off to the devil,[480] and cried:

"'Grandfather! I've stolen Uncle Sidor's[481] bread!'

"'Well, what did he say?'

"'He said, "God be with him!"'

"'Be off with you!' says the devil. 'Hire yourself to him for three
years.'

"So the little demon ran back to the moujik."

The rest of the story tells how the imp taught Isidore to make
corn-brandy, and worked for him a long time faithfully. But at last
one day Isidore drank so much brandy that he fell into a drunken
sleep. From this he was roused by the imp, whereupon he exclaimed in a
rage, "Go to the Devil!" and straightway the "little demon"
disappeared.[482]

In another version of the story,[483] when the peasant finds that his
crust has disappeared, he exclaims--

"Here's a wonder! I've seen nobody, and yet somebody has carried off
my crust! Well, here's good luck to him![484] I daresay I shall starve
to death."

When Satan heard what had taken place, he ordered that the peasant's
crust should be restored. So the demon who had stolen it "turned
himself into a good youth," and became the peasant's hireling. When a
drought was impending, he scattered the peasant's seed-corn over a
swamp; when a wet season was at hand, he sowed the slopes of the
hills. In each instance his forethought enabled his master to fill his
barns while the other peasants lost their crops.

[A Moravian version of this tale will be found in "Der
schwarze Knirps" (Wenzig, No. 15, p. 67). In another
Moravian story in the same collection (No. 8) entitled
"Der boese Geist im Dienste," an evil spirit steals the
food which a man had left outside his house for poor
passers by. When the demon returns to hell he finds
its gates closed, and he is informed by "the oldest of
the devils," that he must expiate his crime by a three
years' service on earth.

A striking parallel to the Russian and the former of
the Moravian stories is offered by "a legend of
serpent worship," from Bhaunagar in Kathiawad. A
certain king had seven wives, one of whom was badly
treated. Feeling hungry one day, she scraped out of
the pots which had been given her to wash some remains
of rice boiled in milk, set the food on one side, and
then went to bathe. During her absence a female N