ers in a chest, and laid it on her
husband's shoulders. The Devil, who is very strong, but also very lazy
and unaccustomed to work, soon got tired of carrying the heavy chest,
and wanted to rest before he was out of the street on which he lived;
but his wife called out to him: "Don't put it down; I see you!" The
Devil went reluctantly on with the chest until he had turned the corner,
and then said to himself: "She cannot see me here; I will rest a
little." But scarcely had he begun to put the chest down when the sister
inside cried out: "Don't put it down; I see you still!" Cursing, he
dragged the chest on into another street, and was going to lay it down
on a doorstep, but he again heard the voice: "Don't lay it down, you
rascal; I see you still!" "What kind of eyes must my wife have," he
thought, "to see around corners as well as straight ahead, and through
walls as if they were made of glass!" and thus thinking he arrived, all
in a perspiration and quite tired out, at the house of his
mother-in-law, to whom he hastily delivered the chest, and then hurried
home to strengthen himself with a good breakfast.

The same thing was repeated the next day with the second chest. On the
third day she herself was to be taken home in the chest. She therefore
prepared a figure which she dressed in her own clothes, and placed on
the balcony, under the pretext of being able to watch him better;
slipped quickly into the chest, and had the maid put it on the Devil's
back. "The deuce!" said he; "this chest is a great deal heavier than the
others; and to-day, when she is sitting on the balcony, I shall have so
much the less chance to rest." So by dint of the greatest exertions he
carried it, without stopping, to his mother-in-law, and then hastened
home to breakfast, scolding, and with his back almost broken. But quite
contrary to custom, his wife did not come out to meet him, and there was
no breakfast ready. "Margerita, where are you?" he cried; but received
no answer. As he was running through the corridors he at length looked
out of a window, and saw the figure on the balcony. "Margerita, have you
gone to sleep? Come down. I am as tired as a dog, and as hungry as a
wolf." But there was no reply. "If you do not come down instantly I will
go up and bring you down," he cried, angrily; but Margerita did not
stir. Enraged, he hastened up to the balcony, and gave her such a box on
the ear that her head flew off, and he saw that the head was