How The Cobbler Escaped Destitution
There once was a cobbler who was doing very badly. Leather was expensive and had to be paid for immediately, and the customers were very miserly and often waited weeks until they paid him for this work. In his desperation, the cobbler thought of all sorts of ways out of this situation, when suddenly someone knocked at the door. “Come in!”, shouted the cobbler. The door opened, and a tall man with a black countenance limped into the chamber.
“Dear Master Cobbler,” he began, “I have heard of your worries, and want to help you.” The cobbler found this man suspicious, and he thus asked whom he had the honor of addressing. “Well,” said the Black One, and self-consciously scratched behind his ears, “I generally don’t like to mention my name, but usually people say that I am Jan Kräuger from Philippsgrün”.(*) “Well, well,” replied the cobbler, “Herr Haunerfaut stands before me. But no matter. I am in a very bad situation, and thus I will accept help even if it comes from the Devil!”
“Now this I find to be a reasonable word,” interjected the Evil One. “Now we shall quickly write up the contract. Thus: You will immediately receive two barrels of gold, and once this gold has been used up, I will fetch you and take you with me to Hell.” — “Slow down, slow down, dear Herr Haunerfaut,” said the cobbler, “I won’t agree to these conditions. Before I fall to you with body and soul, we shall test our strength against each other three times. If you defeat me only once, you may do with me what you want. But if I am the victor in all three challenges, you shall not have any part of me for all time.”
Jan Kräuger had always been an extremely prideful man who believed himself to be the strongest in the entire world and considered no one to be his superior. “Cobbler,” he said, “this shall not help you in any way. But if you insist on it, I shall be content with this. Now sign quickly.” As soon as the Master Cobbler had put his name under the document, and had used his own blood instead of ink (as it is custom with infernal contracts), the Evil One vanished and returned to the spot with the two barrels of gold in mere moments.
The merry life that began in the cobbler’s workshop from that moment on can be imagined. Boots and shoes were no longer worked on. Instead, from early in the morning until late in the evening there was much jubilation and ruckus, and feasting and drinking, as if the money would never run out. But everything comes to an end, and for the Devil’s money the old saying is particularly true: “Easy come, easy go”. The cobbler thus one day noticed to his terror that not a single gold piece was left to his account within the two barrels. And while he was still wracking his brains on how in the world all the money had vanished so quickly, Herr Haunerfaut was already tapping on his shoulders and said: “Now it is time for our competitions!”
The cobbler thought: “Now you have to save your skin”, and went outside with the Devil to settle their affairs. “I shall provide the first challenge, and you may come up with the others”, said Jan Kräuger once they had reached the forest. “Will you be able to withstand it if I manage to let all branches and twigs in the entire forest fall to the ground with a single strike?” “Why not!”, said the cobbler. Then there was a terrible crack so that the ground was booming and the animals ran away in sudden fright. And afterwards, all branches and twigs of the entire forest rushed downwards. In this manner, the trees stood there smooth and bare like the masts of a ship.
But the cobbler had held his hands tightly over his ears, and had taken care that he would not be injured by the falling wood. When the Devil turned around to face him, he said mockingly: “With such things, you might frighten children. Nevertheless, when I do the same what you have done just now, you will not be able to withstand it.” These defiant words caused a lot of worry for the Devil, and he replied: “Dear cobbler, let me blindfold myself if this is going to be so horrible.” As soon as Jan Kräuger had knotted the cloth around his eyes, Master Cobbler shouted: “Now it starts!” Then he took his heavy, oaken, knobbed stick, and the powerful blows fell down on the Devil’s skull like hail.
However, the latter shouted “stop, stop”, after only a short time. “I admit defeat in this competition, and you have won the first challenge.” — “I’ve told you at the start that you would not be able to withstand me”, replied the cobbler dryly, and removed the Devil’s blindfold. “But now it’s my turn to give you a nut to crack. Look, a stallion grazes there. Will you take him on your back and carry him all around the forest?”
“This is going to be a tough piece of work”, said Herr Haunerfaut. Then he walked towards the animal, put the two front feet over his shoulders, and began the burdensome journey. For the stallion was a wild animal, and struck out with his hind legs in such a manner that the Devil’s feet were gruesomely smashed. Furthermore, the horse weighed a lot, and it was a hot summer’s day and the Sun was at its zenith. But, finally, he accomplished this task, and returned to the cobbler while panting and dripping sweat, and was covered with dirt and blood. “Look,” said the laughing cobbler, “this required so much toil from you. But I shall only take the stallion between the knees, and travel around those shrubs without the slightest bit of effort.” As soon as he had spoken this, he climbed up on the steed, merrily rode around the outskirts of the forest, and jumped down to the ground again at the spot where the Devil was standing.
When Jan Kräuger saw this, he opened up mouth and nose, and said with a small voice: “It is true, I admit it: You can do more than I can.” — “No”, said the cobbler, “this isn’t right. A deal is a deal, and now we come to the third challenge. But since I am too strong for your tastes, I shall let my small boy take my place in the struggle against you.”
As it happened, the cobbler had a small hare within a wooden cage. People had caught it in the spring when they were plowing the fields, and he had bought it for a few pennies in order to raise it up and fatten it up. Now, he hurriedly ran home and fetched the cage. Then he spoke: “Herr Haunerfaut, the third challenge is a race. If you manage to catch up to my boy, then you will have won. As soon as I count up to three, the challenge shall begin. One! Two! Three!” and the cage was opened, the hare was outside, and it raced across the field with the speed of an arrow.
The Devil raced after it like a greyhound, and did not look to the right or to the left, forwards or backwards. His only desire was to catch up to the cobbler’s small boy. He had nearly caught it by its long ears when they suddenly reached a wide, moor-filled ditch which was entirely covered with moss. The hare easily passed over it, but the heavy Devil had barely set a foot in it when the flimsy covering broke apart, and he fell into the deep ditch. The cobbler only witnessed from afar how the black waters of the moor closed over the head of Jan Kräuger, and then everything became quiet. No one has ever heard anything of Herr Haunerfaut since then, for he pitifully drowned there. But the cobbler was now freed from all of his problems.
(Oral tale from Meesiger, Temmin district.)
(*) “He must go to Philippsgrün” (“Philipps’ Green”) means roughly: “He must go to the graveyard, he will soon die.”
