Chương Chương 137 · The Old Man Made Young Again

. The Old Man Made Young Again

In the time when our Lord still walked this earth, he and St. Peter

stopped one evening at a smith’s and received free quarters. Then it

came to pass that a poor beggar, hardly pressed by age and infirmity,

came to this house and begged alms of the smith. St. Peter had

compassion on him and said, “Lord and master, if it please thee, cure

his torments that he may be able to win his own bread.” The Lord said

kindly, “Smith, lend me thy forge, and put on some coals for me, and

then I will make this ailing old man young again.” The smith was quite

willing, and St. Peter blew the bellows, and when the coal fire

sparkled up large and high our Lord took the little old man, pushed him

in the forge in the midst of the red-hot fire, so that he glowed like a

rose-bush, and praised God with a loud voice. After that the Lord went

to the quenching tub, put the glowing little man into it so that the

water closed over him, and after he had carefully cooled him, gave him

his blessing, when behold the little man sprang nimbly out, looking

fresh, straight, healthy, and as if he were but twenty. The smith, who

had watched everything closely and attentively, invited them all to

supper. He, however, had an old half-blind crooked, mother-in-law who

went to the youth, and with great earnestness asked if the fire had

burnt him much. He answered that he had never felt more comfortable,

and that he had sat in the red heat as if he had been in cool dew. The

youth’s words echoed in the ears of the old woman all night long, and

early next morning, when the Lord had gone on his way again and had

heartily thanked the smith, the latter thought he might make his old

mother-in-law young again likewise, as he had watched everything so

carefully, and it lay in the province of his trade. So he called to ask

her if she, too, would like to go bounding about like a girl of

eighteen. She said, “With all my heart, as the youth has come out of it

so well.” So the smith made a great fire, and thrust the old woman into

it, and she writhed about this way and that, and uttered terrible cries

of murder. “Sit still; why art thou screaming and jumping about so?”

cried he, and as he spoke he blew the bellows again until all her rags

were burnt. The old woman cried without ceasing, and the smith thought

to himself, “I have not quite the right art,” and took her out and

threw her into the cooling-tub. Then she screamed so loudly that the

smith’s wife upstairs and her daughter-in-law heard, and they both ran

downstairs, and saw the old woman lying in a heap in the quenching-tub,

howling and screaming, with her face wrinkled and shrivelled and all

out of shape. Thereupon the two, who were both with child, were so

terrified that that very night two boys were born who were not made

like men but apes, and they ran into the woods, and from them sprang

the race of apes.

148 The Lord’s Animals and the Devil’s

The Lord God had created all animals, and had chosen out the wolf to be

his dog, but he had forgotten the goat. Then the Devil made ready and

began to create also, and created goats with fine long tails. Now when

they went to pasture, they generally remained caught in the hedges by

their tails, then the Devil had to go there and disentangle them, with

a great deal of trouble. This enraged him at last, and he went and bit

off the tail of every goat, as may be seen to this day by the stump.

Then he let them go to pasture alone, but it came to pass that the Lord

God perceived how at one time they gnawed away at a fruitful tree, at

another injured the noble vines, or destroyed other tender plants. This

distressed him, so that in his goodness and mercy he summoned his

wolves, who soon tore in pieces the goats that went there. When the

devil observed this, he went before the Lord and said, “Thy creatures

have destroyed mine.” The Lord answered, “Why didst thou create things

to do harm?” The Devil said, “I was compelled to do it: inasmuch as my

thoughts run on evil, what I create can have no other nature, and thou

must pay me heavy damages.” “I will pay thee as soon as the oak leaves

fall; come then, thy money will then be ready counted out.” When the

oak-leaves had fallen, the Devil came and demanded what was due to him.

But the Lord said, “In the church of Constantinople stands a tall

oak-tree which still has all its leaves.” With raging and curses, the

Devil departed, and went to seek the oak, wandered in the wilderness

for six months before he found it, and when he returned, all the oaks

had in the meantime covered themselves again with green leaves. Then he

had to forfeit his indemnity, and in his rage he put out the eyes of

all the remaining goats, and put his own in instead.

This is why all goats have devil’s eyes, and their tails bitten off,

and why he likes to assume their shape.