Atondido Stories
The man suddenly turned black.
"Look at me!" he cried. "Here I am, the very person we've
been talking about!"
With no show of fear Peter looked the Devil up and down.
Then the Devil said that if Peter still wished to enter his service,
he would take him. The work would be light, the Devil said, and
the hours good, and if Peter did as he was told he would have a
pleasant time. The Devil promised to keep him seven years and
at the end of that time to make him a handsome present and set
him free.
Peter shook hands on the bargain and the Devil, taking him
about the waist, whisked him up into the air, and, pst! before Pe-
ter knew what was happening, they were in hell.
The Devil gave Peter a leather apron and led him into a room
where there were three big cauldrons.
"Now it's your duty," the Devil said, "to keep the fires under
these cauldrons always burning. Keep four logs under the first
cauldron, eight logs under the second, and twelve under the
third. Be careful never to let the fires go out. And another thing,
Peter: you're never to peep inside the cauldrons. If you do I'll
drive you away without a cent of wages. Don't forget!"
So Peter began working for the Devil and the treatment he
received was so much better than that which he had had on
earth that, sometimes, it seemed to him he was in heaven rather
than hell. He had plenty of good food and drink and, as the Dev-
il had promised him, the work was not heavy.
For companions he had the young apprentice devils, a merry
black crew, who told droll stories and played amusing pranks.
Time passed quickly. Peter was faithful at his work and nev-
er once peeped under the lids of his three cauldrons.
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