“My man, I have had enough of this kind of thing. I am now going to take
possession of a rich man’s daughter. Don’t you come to heal her, for I
warn you that if you do so I will tear you to pieces.”
Away he went. The daughter was possessed, and was so beside herself that
no one dare venture near her. Away sent her relations for the wonderful
doctor. The peasant, however, was unwilling to take the case in hand. He
would not come. At last the folk sent their servants to bring him to the
house by force, declaring that if he refused to come they would kill
him.
The man did not know what to do; at last he thought he saw his way out
of the difficulty.
In the road running beside the house he collected a number of coachmen,
grooms, and others, and ordered them to run up and down, smacking their
whips and crying as loudly as they could—
“That wretched woman has come again! that wretched woman has come
again!”
When the hubbub was at its full height the peasant went into the house.
“What!” cried the imp. “You have come, have you? Well then, now, I will
make you repent it.”
“My dear friend,” said the man, “it is true I have come, but I came to
do you a service. I came to tell you that that miserable woman has come
back again.”
“What!” cried the imp.
He leaped to the window, looked out, and listened. When he saw the
confusion, and heard the cries—“That wretched woman has come again! that
wretched woman has come again!” he turned to the peasant, and said to
him, in a tone full of anxiety and mournfulness—
“What shall I do? Where can I hide from her?”
“I don’t know,” said the man, “but I should say the hole would be the
safest place. She will hardly search there a second time for you.”
Away went the imp at full speed, and, coming to the hole, down he went
headlong. He was never seen again. The girl was completely cured when he
left her, and was as happy as ever, and her parents heaped rewards on
the wonderful physician.
The bad-tempered woman, too, never made her appearance again, so it
seems as if she would remain down the pit for ever.
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