Spellbound

Chapter One THE PEASANT AND THE DEVIL THE BROTHERS GRIMM THERE WAS ONCE upon a time a peasant who had been working in his field, and as twilight had set in, he was getting ready for the journey home, when he saw a heap of burning coals in the middle of his field, and when, full of astonishment, he went up to it, a little black devil was sitting on the live coals. "Do you sit upon a treasure?" inquired the peasant. "Yes, in trust," replied the Devil, "on a treasure that contains more gold and silver than you have ever seen in your life!" "The treasure lies in my field and belongs to me," said the peasant. "It is yours," answered the Devil, "if you will for two years give me half of everything that your field produces. Money I have enough of, but I have a desire for the fruit of the earth." The peasant agreed to the bargain. "In order, however, that no dispute may arise about the division," said he, "everything that is below ground shall belong to you and what is above the earth to me." The Devil was quite satisfied with that, but the cunning peasant had sowed turnips. Now when the time for the harvest came, the Devil appeared and wanted to take away his crop; but he found nothing but the yellow withered leaves, while the peasant, quite pleased, was digging up his turnips. "You have had the best of it for once," said the Devil, "but the next time that won't do. What grows aboveground shall be yours, and what is under it, mine." "I am willing," replied the peasant. When, however, the time came to sow, the peasant did not again sow turnips, but wheat. The grain became ripe, and the peasant went into the field and cut the full stalks down to the ground. When the Devil came, he found nothing but the stubble,and went away in a fury down into a cleft in the rocks. "That is the way to cheat the Devil," said the peasant, and he went and fetched away the treasure.Jones, Diana Wynne is the author of 'Spellbound ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780753461440 and ISBN 0753461447.