There was a gentleman and lady who were very poor. This man used to
sit sadly at a cross-roads. There came to him a gentleman, who asked:
"Why are you so sad?"
"Because I have not wherewith to live."
He said to him, "I will give you as much money as you like, if at
such a time you tell the age of the devil."
Our man goes off happy. He leads a merry life with his wife, for they
wanted for nothing. They lived at a great rate. But time went on,
and the time was approaching. This man recollected that he had not
busied himself at all about the devil's age. He became pensive. His
wife asked him what was the matter with him then? why is he not
happy? that they wanted for nothing; why is he so sad? He tells
her how it is that he got rich, and what compact he had made with a
gentleman. His wife said to him:
"If you have nothing but that, it is nothing at all. Get into a
barrel of honey, and when you come out of it get into another barrel
of feathers, and dressed like that go to the cross-roads and wait for
the devil there. You will put yourself on all fours, and walk backwards
and forwards, and go between his legs, and walk all round him."
The man does as his wife had told him. The devil comes, and draws back
(when he sees him); and our man goes up quite close to the devil. The
devil being frightened said to him:
"I am so many years old, and I have never seen any animal like that,
and such a frightful one." [56]
Our man had heard enough. He went off home at full speed, and told
his wife that they would want for nothing, that he had done as she
had told him, just as if she had been a witch, and that he was no
longer afraid of the devil. They lived rich and happily, and if they
lived well, they died well too.
Franchun Beltzarri.