Atondido Stories
So that night while the shoemaker was asleep, they tip-toed
in, stole the magic tablecloth out of the bag, and substituted one
of their own.
The next morning when the shoemaker awoke and spread
out the cloth which he found in his bag and said: "Meat and
drink for one!" of course nothing happened.
"That's strange," he thought to himself. "I'll have to take this
back to the Devil and ask him to give me something else."
So instead of going home he went back to hell and knocked at
the gate.
"Hello, shoemaker!" the little devil of a guard said. "What do
you want now?"
"Well, you see it's this way," the shoemaker explained: "this
tablecloth of the Devil's worked all right last night but it doesn't
work this morning."
The little devil grinned.
"Oh, I see. And you want Prince Lucifer to take it back and
give you something else, eh? Well, I'm sure he will. If you want
my advice, I should say to ask him for that red rooster that sits in
the chimney corner."
The Prince received the shoemaker as kindly as before and
was perfectly willing to exchange the tablecloth for the red roost-
er.
When the shoemaker got back to the gate, the little devil of a
guard said:
"I see you've got the red rooster. Now I just want to tell you
that's no ordinary rooster. Whenever you need money, all you
have to do is put that rooster on the table and say: 'Crow, roost-
er, crow!' He'll crow and as he crows a golden ducat will drop
from his bill!"
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