Jack and the Devil's Purse

by Duncan Williamson

  And the fisherman said ‘So do all we, so do we all.’

  ‘Please,’ said the princess, ‘I haven’t much time to wait. My father’s anxious to get on. But give me your promise you’ll bring him here tonight!’

  And the fisherman said, ‘I’ll be there.’ But he never said he would bring La Mer.

  So the fisherman and La Mer walked home with all the money they got from the fish. He took him home. And his wife was very pleased. They bought many things on their way home for his wife. La Mer never said a word. And the fisherman turned round. He says to his wife:

  ‘Look, we’ll have tae do something about La Mer. We cannae send him off to the princess, she’s in love with him.’

  And his wife said, ‘I’m in love with—’

  He said, ‘I’m in love with him too! I am in love with him too! We can’t send him off. If we send him to the princess we’ll never see him again. What are we gaunna do?’

  And his wife said, ‘We love him. We don’t want to hurt him.’

  And La Mer said, ‘I know yer problem. I don’t want to go and leave youse; I don’t want to go to marry a princess. Come with me back to the sea. Come with me and set me free!’

  And his wife said, ‘Please, take him back and set him free.’

  So La Mer and the fisherman walked back to the same rocks where he catcht him. He said, ‘La Mer, you’re free. Go, La Mer!’

  And La Mer turned round, said, ‘Won’t you come with me, old man? Come with me to the sea. I’ll take ye to a place where you will never need to fish anymore, where there are diamonds and pearls, where the land – you will be free – where everything is a wonderful place.’

  He said, ‘I couldn’t leave my old wife.’

  ‘Walk with me,’ said La Mer, ‘please, come with me! Just put your feet in the sea and I’ll take you with me.’

  ‘I’ll walk with ye,’ said the fisherman. ‘I’ll see you off, because I don’t want tae give you to anyone. Because we love you dearly.’

  So the old fisherman walked into the sea with La Mer behind the rocks. And then lo and behold La Mer turned round. He catcht the old fisherman by the hand – he held on to the fisherman’s hand.

  ‘Come with me!’ said La Mer. ‘Please, come with me – you have been good to me and you treated me so square and so wonderful. Please, come and join me in my land, come, please . . .’

  And the old fisherman went in to his waist. Then the old fisherman went up to his neck, then the old fisherman went up to his head and the water came into his eyes. But La Mer just was like a fish and the water didna seem to affect him any way. But the water is gaun into the old fisherman’s neck and he begint tae feel that he wis drownin. He said, ‘Please, La Mer, please, La Mer, let go your grip! Ye’re far too strong for me!’

  ‘Come with me!’ says La Mer, ‘and I’ll take you to the bottom o’ the sea, where you’ll never need to worry, where everything is free!’

  ‘Please, please,’ said the fisherman, ‘let go your grip. Ye’re far too strong for me.’

  And then La Mer let go his grip. The old fisherman walked back to the shoreside and La Mer was gone. He walked home and he told his wife.

  She said, ‘Where is La Mer?’

  He said, ‘La Mer is gone . . . fir evermore, but someday I’ll gae back tae the sea.’

  She says, ‘Look husband, if you go back to the sea, will ye take me with you?’

  And that is the end of my story.

  Woodcutter and the Devil

  A long time ago an old woodcutter lived in the forest and he cut timber for a living. He took it with a little handcart to the village to sell it to the local community. His wife had died and left him with three little boys, and he loved these children from his heart. But oh, he missed his wife terribly. Every evening when he’d put the children to bed he would sit there lonely by the fireside, put some logs on, and say to himself, ‘I wish she was here to direct me and tell me what’s to happen in the morning. Well,’ he said, ‘there’s nothing else for it, I must rear the boys up the best way I can.’

  Before they were school age the poor woodcutter took them with him to the forest and showed them how to work in the wood. They helped him lifting axes and doing things around the forest. Then at night time he took them by his feet by the fireside and told them stories, many stories.

  So one day the oldest of the boys turned round and said, ‘Daddy, I love your stories. But can you not tell us about something else? There are many other wonderful things, Daddy, to tell us than stories about trees and wind and windblown trees.’

  ‘Son, I would love to tell you other stories, but me telling you about something else would make you far too inquisitive, to want to understand about things out in the world which you’re not fit for.’

  ‘But Daddy, we don’t want to stay here and be woodcutters. We don’t want to grow up like you, to be an old man spending your life in the forest cutting trees and getting no richer or no better off.’

  ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I’ve tried my best, boys. I’ve brought you up and worked hard for you.’

  ‘But Daddy, this is not a life for us – we want to be someone special! Daddy, tell us what to do!’

  So he went into the forest and cut trees as usual. And he sat down there by himself.

  ‘Isn’t it terrible,’ he said, ‘my wife is gone, gone forever. And I’m left with three little boys. They’re getting so grown up I don’t know what to do with them. I’ll never make enough money to give them an education or anything. They’re so inquisitive and they want to understand so many things . . . God Almighty, could you help me?’

  But no thought came to his mind.

  He said, ‘Jesus Christ, could you help me?’

  But no thought came to his mind.

  He said, ‘Would the Devil o’ Hell help me? I would give my soul to the Devil this night if I had money to give my boys a good education!’

  And then there was a rumble o’ thunder, it got dark.

  He said, ‘I’d better get up and make my way back.’

  But lo and behold there before him stood this tall, dark man dressed in a long cape, ‘I heard you, old man,’ he said, ‘I heard you!’

  ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I was speaking out aloud, I was cursing to myself.’

  ‘Oh, of course,’ he said, ‘you were cursing. But you mentioned my name.’

  ‘Did I? And who are you?’

  He said, ‘I am the Devil!’

  ‘The Devil?’ he said. ‘At last someone has come to help me!’

  ‘Of course,’ said the Devil, ‘I’ve come to help you. Your God wouldn’t help you, your Jesus wouldn’t help you, would he? But I’m the Devil and I’ve come to help you. What is it you want?’

  ‘Well,’ said the old woodcutter, ‘you know what I want. There’s me, my wife’s dead and gone to Hell or Heaven, I don’t know.’

  ‘Well,’ the Devil said, ‘I never saw her.’

  ‘Well,’ the old man said, ‘she must be in a better place. Look, I’ve three grown-up boys and they’re getting kind of inquisitive. They want a better life, they don’t want to spend their lives with me in the forest. How can I give them a better life? I’m only a poor woodcutter making a few shillings to get food for them.’

  The Devil says, ‘I can help you.’

  ‘Oh,’ he says, ‘I wish you would help me . . . Devil o’ Hell, would you help me?’

  He says, ‘I’ll help you. What do you need?’

  ‘Money! I need money. I want to put them off to school, to college. I want to make men of them so’s they’ll grow up and be great men.’

  Devil says, ‘No problem. I’ll give you all the money you want. But what have I to get in return?’

  ‘Oh Devil,’ he says, ‘you can get anything you want of me. You can have me!’

  Devil says, ‘Is that true? Can I have you? Can I have you – heart and soul and body?’

  ‘Devil,’ he said, ‘you give me money and you can have anything you want!’
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  Devil says, ‘Go back home tonight, go to your kist in your bedroom – it will be full – but I’ll be back for you in ten years’ time.’

  ‘Done!’ says the old woodcutter. ‘No problem, you can have me, heart and soul. By that time my boys’ll be grown up and be young men, they’ll not need me anymore.’

  True enough. He wanders home a happy old woodcutter. When he lands home the boys have a few vegetables and a little meat on the table. They’d cleaned the house up, you know. And he had a little bite to eat. He walked in to an old kist that he had in his own room, and he lifted the lid . . . it was full of old clothes and things. He pulled the old clothes apart and there in the bottom it was packed with gold sovereigns.

  He said, ‘The Devil has told the truth. Now I have the money!’ So naturally he called his three boys together and he said, ‘Boys, listen: last night we had a discussion and you wanted to be great men. So I’m going to pay for you, I’m going to send you off to school. What would you like to be?’

  So the oldest one said, ‘Well, Father, I would like to be a minister. Because I know, Father, you lost my mother and I want to preach the word of God to all the people.’

  ‘Is that what you want to be?’ says the father.

  ‘Yes, Father.’

  ‘Well, a minister you can be.’

  So he called the second son before him and said, ‘What would you like to be, my son?’

  He said, ‘I would like to be a doctor.’

  ‘Oh, no problem, son! I’ll put you to college, I have plenty of money to put you to college now.’

  ‘But Father,’ he said, ‘how have you become so rich?’

  He says, ‘Son, don’t you worry about it.’

  And to the youngest one he said, ‘What would you like to be, my little son?’

  He said, ‘Father, I’ve talked to you and you’ve given me some very interesting discussions, and I would like to be a lawyer.’

  ‘Well, son, no problem! You shall be a lawyer.’

  So the next day the father, the old woodcutter, made arrangements to send his three young sons off to college wherever they wanted to go. He sent them off, paid all their expenses and lived by himself. And one became a great minister. And one became a great doctor. And one became a great lawyer. Nine years had passed. Now the boys were grown up. And one evening there was a knock at the door.

  The oldest son came in. He said, ‘Father, I have come to visit you.’

  ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘my son, I am pleased that you have come to visit me. Because you know I haven’t got long to go.’

  ‘Why not, Father?’

  ‘Well,’ he said, ‘it’s a long story. Because you see, son, I sold my soul to the Devil just for the sake of you. And he’ll be coming for me tonight.’

  ‘Oh dear, Father,’ he said, ‘we don’t want to lose you – you’re our father and you’ve done so much for us. Do my brothers know about this?’

  ‘No, your brothers don’t know about this.’

  He said, ‘When is he coming?’

  ‘Well,’ he says, ‘tonight at twelve o’clock.’

  He says, ‘Father, can I wait?’

  ‘Oh,’ he says, ‘I don’t want you to meet the Devil, son – you’re a minister! You could never meet the Devil – he’s coming!’

  ‘Father,’ he says, ‘can I wait?’

  But they sat and they talked till twelve o’clock. And lo and behold there was a rattle of thunder and a rattle at the door – in walks the Devil.

  He said, ‘Okay, old man, get up – I have come for you!’

  And the minister got up. He had his crucifix hanging by his neck. ‘Just a moment,’ he said, ‘you know this is my father.’

  ‘I know,’ said the Devil, and he held his hand before his eyes. ‘I know,’ he said, ‘I know, I’ve come for your father.’

  ‘Well, look,’ says the minister, ‘you know I preach the word of God!’

  ‘Don’t mention that word to me,’ says the Devil, ‘I don’t want to hear it.’

  ‘Well, look,’ he says, ‘I have never seen my father for many years. For my sake . . .’

  ‘Not for your sake,’ said the Devil, ‘in any way! I’ve come for your father.’

  ‘But I have never had time to spend with my father. Could you give him another year just to please me?’

  The Devil said, ‘Right. Look, if you take that thing from your neck so that I can talk to you, I’ll think about it.’

  So the minister turned his crucifix to the back of his neck.

  ‘Now,’ he says, ‘we can look at you. I’ll tell you: I’ll give your father one more year just because you’ve been away for a while. But then I’m coming for him!’

  ‘Okay,’ said the minister, ‘I’ll make my peace with my father before that time.’

  And then the Devil was gone.

  So the minister and his son, they had a nice time together. And the minister went back to his parish. He stayed in the parish, left his father alone.

  But a year had nearly passed. Then came the next son, the doctor, to visit his father.

  They had sat there talking and discussing things when lo and behold there was another rumble of thunder. And the door opened – in walks the Devil again.

  Doctor said, ‘Who is this, Father?’

  ‘Oh, it’s an old friend of mine,’ he said, ‘son. He has come to see me. You know I have a long story to tell you, but I can’t tell you right now.’

  ‘But, who is it, Father?’

  He said, ‘It’s the Devil.’

  ‘The Devil?’ said the doctor.

  ‘Of course,’ he said, ‘the Devil, son. Look, all thon money I put you through college with didn’t belong to me. It belonged to the Devil. And I’ve sold my soul to him and he’s come for me. He’s taking me tonight!’

  ‘Oh,’ the doctor said, ‘so he’s taking you tonight. Well, we’ll have to see about this, Father.’

  The Devil spoke, ‘Old man, the time has come. I’ve given you one chance and no more!’

  So the doctor son stood up. He said, ‘Look, Devil, I know who you are – you’re the Devil!’

  ‘Of course I’m the Devil,’ he said, ‘I’ve come for your father.’

  ‘But you can’t take my father!’ he said.

  ‘But your father has sold his soul to me. I gave him my money – how do you think you got to college to be a doctor? How do you think you’ve saved so many souls . . . I’m angry about you! You have saved people that I could have had.’

  ‘Well,’ the doctor said, ‘that’s my business. I’ve been working hard.’

  ‘You’re a nice, sensible young man; you’ve been working hard, that’s true,’ said the Devil.

  ‘But anyway,’ he said, ‘look, could you give my father one more year? My youngest brother of all comes back next year – he is just about to become a lawyer. And if you took him away now, my youngest brother would be upset. Please, Devil, would you give my father one more year?’

  ‘Okay,’ said the Devil, ‘one more year – no more!’ Like that the Devil was gone.

  So then the woodcutter and his son spent a lovely night together. But he had to go back to his practice, you know.

  So another year passed by. The old man was quite happy by himself. And then there was a knock at the door and in came the youngest son.

  He says, ‘Father, at last! That’s it – I am a lawyer now, Father!’

  And his father was so happy to see him. He threw his arms around him and cuddled him. He said, ‘My baby, my youngest son! You’ve really made it.’

  ‘Yes, Father,’ he said, ‘I have. Let’s go in and have a dine together and have a drink together.’

  ‘But he said, ‘Son, do you know what the time is . . . tonight I can’t spend much time with you.’

  ‘Why, Father? I’ve come all the way to see you – aren’t you happy to see me?’

  ‘Of course, my son!’ he said. ‘I’ve had your brothers here, they’ve gone after their visits. Now you hav
e come. But I can’t spend much time with you.’

  ‘Why, Father? Why can’t you spend time with me?’

  ‘Well, son, it’s a long story. You know all that money I put you through college with? It was not mine. It belonged to the Devil.’

  ‘The Devil?’ said the lawyer.

  ‘Of course, son,’ he said, ‘I sold my soul to the Devil to get you through college. And tonight he’s coming for me.’

  ‘Father,’ he said, ‘Father, I’ve not time to spend with you?’

  ‘Well, son, this is the last chance! Your brother had a chance and your second brother had a chance, and now it’s your turn.’

  ‘But Father,’ he said, ‘I just can’t let you go away with the Devil – I’ve only just come here!’

  They sat and talked, and then there was the rattle of thunder again! And the door opened – in walks the Devil.

  Rubbed his hands together, he said, ‘Okay, old man, no more chances. Who’s this you have here with you?’

  He said, ‘This is my son.’

  He said, ‘A son?’

  Yes, this is the son who has just come through college; he’s a lawyer.’

  ‘Oh, he’s a lawyer?’ says the Devil. ‘Well, they tell me lawyers are very clever.’

  ‘Well,’ says the woodcutter, ‘he’s a clever young man. Lawyers are very clever!’

  So the lawyer turned. He said, ‘I heard the story, Devil, and about the extensions you gave my other brothers. Look, I’ve only come back for a wee while to see my father. We haven’t much time . . . you can’t take him away from me!’

  ‘Well,’ the Devil said, ‘I gave your two brothers one chance each. And it wouldn’t be fair for me – even the Devil – to not give you a little chance. How long would you like your father to stay with you?’

  ‘Oh,’ said the lawyer, and he walked over to the table. Burning on the table was a candle and it was burnt nearly to the bottom. He said:

  ‘Look, Devil, I know you’ve been kind. You’ve been more generous than anyone, even more generous than God. You gave my brother a year and you gave my other brother a year. And all I’m asking you, Devil, can I spend a little time with my father – until that wee bit of candle burns to the end of the wick?’