The Devil and His Grandmother

During a time of great war, when armies marched across the land and soldiers faced hardship and danger every day, three brave men found themselves in a situation that would test not only their courage, but their cleverness as well.

The Deserting Soldiers

Hans, Wilhelm, and Friedrich were soldiers who had grown weary of the endless war. They had fought bravely for their king, but they had received no pay, little food, and no word of when the fighting might end. One night, they made the desperate decision to desert from the army.

“We cannot continue like this,” said Hans, the eldest of the three. “If we stay, we will surely die of hunger or in battle. If we leave, at least we have a chance.”

The three men slipped away from their camp under cover of darkness, but they soon realized they had jumped from the frying pan into the fire. As deserters, they would be hunted by their own army, and they had no money, no food, and nowhere to hide.

The Cornfield Hiding Place

As dawn approached, the three soldiers found themselves in the middle of a vast cornfield. With no other options, they decided to hide among the tall stalks of grain and wait for nightfall before moving on.

They had been hiding for several hours when they heard a strange rustling sound that was different from the wind blowing through the corn. Suddenly, a figure appeared before them - a man dressed in fine clothes, but with something unsettling about his appearance.

“Well, well,” said the stranger with a sly smile, “what have we here? Three deserters hiding like rabbits in the corn?”

The soldiers knew immediately that this was no ordinary man. There was something about his eyes, his smile, and the way he seemed to appear from nowhere that told them they were facing something supernatural.

The Devil’s Proposition

“I am the Devil,” the stranger announced casually, as if he were introducing himself at a social gathering. “And I have a proposition for you three desperate souls.”

The soldiers trembled with fear, but they were also curious. What could the Devil want with three poor deserters?

“You are in a hopeless situation,” the Devil continued. “If you stay here, you will be caught and executed. If you run, you will starve or be hunted down. But I can offer you a way out.”

“What do you want in return?” asked Wilhelm, the most cautious of the three.

The Devil laughed. “Seven years of service to me, and then your souls for eternity. But first, I will give you seven years of wealth and pleasure such as you have never known.”

The Bargain Struck

The three soldiers looked at each other desperately. Seven years of good life seemed better than immediate death, and eternity was too far away to worry about right now.

“We accept,” said Hans, speaking for all three.

The Devil smiled widely. “Excellent! But I am a sporting fellow, so I will give you one chance to escape your fate. At the end of seven years, I will ask you three riddles. If any one of you can answer all three correctly, then all three of you will be free, and you may keep all the wealth I give you.”

The soldiers agreed to this condition, and the Devil gave each of them a small pouch that would always be filled with gold coins, no matter how much they spent.

Seven Years of Wealth

True to his word, the Devil provided the three men with seven years of incredible luxury. They traveled the world, stayed in the finest inns, wore the most expensive clothes, and enjoyed every pleasure money could buy.

But as the seventh year drew to a close, the soldiers began to worry. They had tried to think of what riddles the Devil might ask, but they had no idea how to prepare for such a challenge.

Friedrich, however, was the cleverest of the three, and he had been thinking about their situation very carefully. “My friends,” he said, “I have an idea that might save us all.”

Friedrich’s Plan

“I have heard stories,” Friedrich explained, “that the Devil has a grandmother who is much older and wiser than he is, and that she sometimes takes pity on humans who are in trouble. If I could find her and convince her to help us, we might learn the answers to the riddles before the Devil asks them.”

Hans and Wilhelm thought this was a desperate plan, but they had no better ideas. So Friedrich set out to find the Devil’s grandmother, leaving his friends to wait and worry.

Friedrich searched high and low, asking everyone he met if they had heard of the Devil’s grandmother. Finally, an old wise woman told him, “She lives in a cottage at the edge of the world, where the sun sets behind the mountains. But beware - she is ancient and powerful, and she does not help just anyone.”

Meeting the Grandmother

After many days of travel, Friedrich found a small, ancient cottage sitting at the very edge of a great precipice. Smoke rose from its chimney, and strange lights flickered in its windows.

Friedrich knocked on the door, and it was opened by an incredibly old woman with wild gray hair and eyes that seemed to hold all the wisdom of the ages.

“So,” she said, looking him up and down, “you must be one of the three fools who made a bargain with my grandson. Come in, boy, and let me hear your story.”

Friedrich told the Devil’s grandmother everything that had happened, and he begged for her help. The old woman listened carefully, and when he was finished, she was quiet for a long time.

The Grandmother’s Kindness

“My grandson is clever,” the grandmother finally said, “but he is also proud and sometimes careless. I do not approve of his habit of tricking humans into damnation. Very well, I will help you, but you must do exactly as I say.”

She told Friedrich to hide in her pantry and listen carefully when the Devil came to visit her that evening. “He always comes to tell me about his day’s work,” she explained. “If he is planning to ask you riddles tomorrow, he will surely boast about them to me.”

Overhearing the Riddles

That evening, just as the grandmother had predicted, the Devil arrived at the cottage in high spirits. He told his grandmother all about the three soldiers and how he was looking forward to claiming their souls the next day.

“I have prepared three riddles that are impossible to answer,” he boasted. “First, I will ask them what I had for dinner today. The answer is: a dried-up old mare’s head. Second, I will ask what my drinking cup is. The answer is: the skull of a horse. Third, I will ask what my pillow is. The answer is: the heel of a dead man.”

The Devil laughed wickedly as he described his riddles, certain that no human could possibly know such specific and gruesome details.

The Escape Plan

After the Devil left, the grandmother helped Friedrich escape from the cottage and gave him provisions for his journey back to his friends. “Remember every word exactly,” she warned him. “And tell your friends that kindness to old women is never wasted - even when that old woman happens to be related to the Devil.”

Friedrich hurried back to his friends and told them everything he had learned. They memorized the answers carefully, and the next morning, they were ready when the Devil appeared to claim his due.

The Contest of Riddles

The Devil appeared at dawn, rubbing his hands together with glee. “Well, my friends, are you ready to answer my riddles? Remember, you must get all three correct, or your souls are mine forever.”

“We are ready,” said Friedrich bravely.

“Very well,” said the Devil. “First riddle: What did I have for dinner yesterday?”

“A dried-up old mare’s head,” Friedrich answered immediately.

The Devil’s smile faltered slightly, but he continued. “Second riddle: What is my drinking cup?”

“The skull of a horse,” Wilhelm answered confidently.

Now the Devil was looking decidedly uncomfortable. “Third riddle: What is my pillow?”

“The heel of a dead man,” Hans declared triumphantly.

The Devil’s Defeat

The Devil’s face turned red with rage and disbelief. “Impossible! No human could know these answers! You must have cheated somehow!”

“The agreement was that if we answered all three riddles correctly, we would be free,” Friedrich reminded him calmly. “You said nothing about how we found the answers.”

The Devil sputtered and raged, but he was bound by his own agreement. With a tremendous roar of frustration, he vanished in a cloud of sulfurous smoke, and the three soldiers found themselves free men with their souls intact.

The Lesson of Cleverness

The three friends kept all the wealth the Devil had given them, and they lived comfortable lives for the rest of their days. But they never forgot the lesson their adventure had taught them.

Friedrich’s cleverness had saved them all, but it was his kindness and respect for the Devil’s grandmother that had really made the difference. The old woman had helped them not because she was required to, but because Friedrich had approached her with humility and genuine need.

The Moral of the Tale

The story of the Devil and his grandmother became a favorite tale for teaching that while evil may seem powerful and clever, goodness and wisdom are always stronger. It showed that even the Devil himself could be outsmarted by those who combine courage with cleverness.

The tale also reminded people that help can come from the most unexpected sources, and that treating all beings with respect and kindness - even very old, very strange grandmothers - is always the wisest course of action.

And so the three soldiers lived happily, always remembering that the greatest victory is not won through force or fear, but through wit, wisdom, and the kindness of those who choose to help when help is most needed.