vil in his knapsack,
and said, "Old 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."

"Pitch it on the anvil," said the smith.

And he hammered away at the knapsack till the wool flew from the hide.

"Won't that do?" asked he after a while.

"No," said the soldier, "harder still."

And again the blows hailed on the knapsack.

"That's enough," said the soldier at last. "I'll come to you again, if
it's necessary."

Then 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.

The 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.

When he died and arrived in the other world, he went to hell and knocked
at the door.

The Devil peeped through the door to see who it was, and yelled out,
"No, no, you scamp, you're not wanted here; you may go wherever you
like, but you won't get in here."

So the soldier went to the Old God, and told him how it had fared with
him. He replied, "Stay here now; there's plenty of room for soldiers."

Since that time the Devil has admitted no more soldiers into hell.

[Footnote 33: 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 "Peacock and Peahen," &c. (_Thousand and One
Nights_, notes to Chap. ix. of Lane's translation):--"The 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, 'Enter, woe to thee!' But the ass was still agitated, and
was unable to advance. So Noah said, 'Enter, though the Devil be with
thee!' And the ass entered, and Iblees (whom God curse!) entered with
him. And Noah said, 'O enemy of God, who introduced thee into the ark?'
He answered, 'Thou; thou saidst unto the ass, "Enter, though the Devil
be with thee."' So it is said that this is the reason why the ass when
he seeth the Devil brayeth."]