he money-chest contained only withered
birch-leaves.

* * * * *

A farmer who had unthinkingly devoted his lazy horse to the Devil, was
much annoyed by three, who appeared successively, and demanded it. At
last he was obliged to invite them to his Christmas-dinner, and to
promise to feed them on blood, flesh, and corn. But a Finnish sorcerer
taught him a charm by which he transformed them respectively into a bug,
a wolf, and a rat.

* * * * *

Another story, in which the Devil gets the worst of it, is

THE COMPASSIONATE SHOEMAKER.

(JANNSEN.)

Once upon a time, when God himself was still on earth, it happened that
he went to a farm-house disguised as a beggar,[57] while a christening
was going forward, and asked for a lodging. But the people did not
receive him, and declared that he might easily be trodden under the feet
of the guests in the confusion. The poor man offered to creep under the
stove, and lie still there; but they would not heed his prayer, and
showed him the door, telling him he might go to the mud hovel, or
where-ever he liked.

In the hovel lived a shoemaker, who was always very compassionate
towards the poor and needy, and would rather suffer hunger himself than
allow a poor man to leave his threshold unrelieved. God went to him,
and begged for a night's lodging. The shoemaker gave him a friendly
reception and something to eat, and offered him his own bed, while he
himself lay on straw.

Next morning, when God took his departure, he thanked his host, and
said, "I am he who has power to fulfil whatsoever the heart can desire.
You have given me a friendly and most hospitable reception and I am
grateful to you from my heart, and will reward you. Speak a wish, and it
shall be fulfilled."

The shoemaker answered, "Then I will wish that whenever a poor man comes
to ask my aid, I may be able to give him what he most requires, and that
I myself may never want for daily bread as long as I live."

"Let it be so!" answered God, who took leave of him and departed.

Meantime the people in the farmhouse were feasting and drinking, not
remembering the proverbs, "A large piece strains the mouth," and "The
mouth is the measure of the stomach." They set the house on fire by
their recklessness, and only escaped with bare life. All their goods and
chattels were reduced to ashes, and they were left without a roof to
shelter them. The gues