Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 October 1877 — THE THREE WISHES. [ARTICLE]

THE THREE WISHES.

George was a stupid fellow ; so stupid that his father, when dying, willed all bis possessions to his younger son, Hans, who he trusted knew enough not to .make nine into one, or ten into naught, as George would surely have done. Shortly after his father’s death, as George had not a penny, nor was likely to have one unless he earned it, something he was not at all willing to do, he went to borrow or beg one from his richer brother; but his affectionate relative told him to “go to the devil” when he heard his request. Thereupon George immediately ran to the schoolmaster, who was, he thought, most fit to tell him how to follow his brother’s advice, he being the nost learned man in the but the schoolmaster thought very naturally that George wished something more rubstantiid than mere good advice ; so, first looking carefully to see that no one was near, he too said, “go to the devil,” and shut the door in his guest’s face. Poor George was puzzled ns to the manner of tinding the person he was sent to, but he resolved to go out into the world, where perhaps he might meet Inin. However, he first went to saj “good-by” to Elise, the belle of the village, with whom he had been in love since he wore petticoats! Strange to say, she repeated the advice already given him, in a most emphatic manner, with a shrug of her pretty, plump shoulders. Just at this time the devil had certainly broken loose, for it was during the thirty years’ war; but,though there were to be seen his footprints everywhere, it was difficult to catch him in propria persona l . In order to have food and drink, George enlisted, and among his comrades our friend heard many stories of his Majesty, though when his ardent desire to make his personal acquaintance was known, the soldiers fled in terror. One night, however, he sat around a watchfire with some of them, endeavoring to keep awake and warm by exciting stories of witches and wonders, and such pleasant things. At length one more venturesome than the rest ottered to sell himself to Beelzebub for a sack of gold. “And so would I, if I only knew where to find him !’’ said George, eagerly. “To find him ! That’s easy enough,” laughed an old Walloonet. “ Will you fay ?” “I should like nothing better,” replied our hero, but his comrades crossed themselves. When they had all gone to sleep, except George and the Walloonet, the latter asked George if he was serious in his desire to make acquaintance with the devil. “ Certainly,” replied George. “ I was advised to do so by all my friends, and have only not done it before because I could not find him. ” “Well, I can, teach you quickly enough, but you must promise me SIOO if I do.” George declared his willingness to do so, but his inability also, for he had spent all his pay, and plunder had been scarce in the few days preceding. “Stupid head!” growled the Walloonet. “I don’t mean now, but when you have ended your contract with the devil.” To this George acceded, and the old soldier gave him all the proper instructions. * * * k * * * The following midnight found George where the four cross-roads meet; magical roots were in his hand; a charmed circle had been made around him with human bones, which besprinkled plentifully the fields about. After George had fearlessly uttered the necessary invocations a number of times, he felt some one pull his ear, and, turning around, he saw a hunter by his side, but with horns, tail and cloven feet, which he took no pains to hide. George touched his cap politely and said, “ Good evening, Mr. Satan !” • “It is you, is it, George? Well, what do you wish ?” said his Majesty, smiling. “ I would like you to make my fortune,” was the ready answer. “Well, I shall not have to waste very many words on you, I foresee. But do you understand the terms which I require ?” George assured him of his readiness to agree to anything, provided he could have a merry life here on earth. “Well, I will allow you twenty-five years of merriment and ideas ire, but then you are mine. ” “ All right,” said George. ‘ ‘ And now what am I to give you in exchange for your soul ?” George thought a moment or two, but the only thing of which he could think was the asking for three wishes, which he did. The devil laughed aloud at this. “What! that old story not dead yet! But it’s all right. Come and sign the contract.” He took a sheet of paper from his breast pocket, the vnly clean thing about him, showed George how to draw blood from his finger-tip to sign it with; then placed his own signature upon it with a pencil of sulphur and phosphorus, tied the roll carefully with a long worm, put

it in his coat pocket, and said with a pleased grimace: “Now, wish quickly; I have much work to do.” “ First, I wish for a great bag of gold and a wheelbarrow to cany it on.” The devil nodded, and quick as flash a wheelbarrow with a bag of shining gold stood beside the delighted George. “Secondly, I wish Elise would love me enough to wish to marry me.” The devil nodded again with halfclosed eyes, made a waving motion in the air with his hand, and said—- “ That will be all right, and now your third wish. ” But George’s thought had gone as far as possible in one day, so he said he would like to talk the matter over with Elise and find out what she would like. “Very well. You have enough to torment you for the present; a wife and money,” sneered the devil. “ Farewell and be happy.” So saying, he vanished. , George seized the wheelbarrow with a gay heart, paid the Walloonet the sum promised, and trundled off toward his native village. By dawn, to his surprise, he saw Elise running and springing to meet him. How delighted he was. They hastened to the nearest church, were made one in a trice, and then proceeded homeward. I cannot picture Elise’s surprise when she heard of the contents of the great sack. No matter how often she rubbed her eyes or how widely she opened them there still shone the bright gold—a solid reality, not a dream. - She felt a little frightened when she heard that her husband had only twen-ty-five years in which to enjoy the honey of life, but by degrees she became accustomed to the idea, and concluded with Him that it was better to live a quarter of a century in dwfceja&i/o than drag along double that term in misery and discontent. “ We will buy a good farm with a new house,” said Elise, “ and twenty head of cattle. And you must wish the enemy would never come in our neighborhood and that you had only black hair instead of your stiff, yellow Hair, and smooth, rosy face instead of your pocked-marked one, and a long blue coat with bright silver buttons. ” George nodded his head contentedly, though a little doubtfully. “Then I must have something for myself. So I wish that I may always be young and pretty as now, and have the nicest dresses in the whole country.” George nodded again with a pleased face. ‘ ‘ Then we will need more money, and we must have a closet that no thief can enter.” “ And a great cask of Nuremberg beer that will last -forever,” added George, phlegmatically. “And an invisible servant to do all the cooking and housework for me while I am asleep,” said Elize. “And a soft arm-chair which will carry me all over the house,” added George, quite lost in delightful anticipation of his prospective luxury. ‘ ‘ And a pair of gold shoe-buckles for me!” ‘ ‘ Roast pork and cherry cake for me every day !” “ And a Oh, dear,” said Elise, suddenly checking her enthusiasm. George looked at her questioningly. “Ah ! we have wished for so much already, and yet there is still so much we need. How can all that be got with one wish ?” “I’ll see to that,” said George, composedly. “ The devil must keep his word, and I’ll call him to-night, and talk the matter over.” But George did not need to wait for midnight and a magic circle, for Satan is never far from the soul he owns. Indeed, during this conversation he had been listening beliind the bushes which bordered the roadside, and now nodded and winked to George to come to him. “I have heard your whole conversation,” he said, laughing till poison ran like tears over his red face. “But the 500 things you have wished for cannot be got at once. So choose which you want most, make your third wish, and let’s end the affair.” Now in the whole world there was not a more cool, collected person to be found than George, so he was not the least dis turbed by Satan’s jokes or ridicule. “Come, hurry up,” added the devil. “ Do you suppose I have time to bother with you for an hour ?” ‘ ‘ You see that since I cannot have all I have wished for out of this third wish ” “Well!” “ Then,” said George, scratching his head thoughtfully, “then I wish that I had three more wishes.” Our hero said this as simply and quietly as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and in truth so it appeardd to him. It was like the egg of Columbus—a perfectly simple thought, but one which would never have occurred to any one less stupid than George. When Beelzebub heard the wish he stared a moment as if almost disconcerted. He felt almost as if he had gone on the ice for the first time to skate, a little tottering and a trifle cold, for he foresaw at a glance to what such a wish might lead. But he trusted to George’s stupidity not to see it also, so he replied in a manner-of-fact tone ; “ Very good. Go on, lamin a hurry I” ‘ ‘ I wank a fine farm, with twenty cows and a handsome house.” The devil waved is hand of phosphorus through the air, and suddenly the roof of a stately house arose above the bushes and the lowing of cows sounded melodiously in George’s ear. “Next, I want a great cask of Nuremberg beer that will never give out.” Again Satan’s hand made signs hither and thither. “Done ! now thirdly and lastly !” he said, a little uneasily. “Thirdly, I want ” George paused. “Make an end—l’ve no time to spare,” growled Beelzebub. “ Thirdly, I wish—l wish—l had three wishes more”. “Thunder!” shouted the devil—“go on!” Now came the various wishes for Elise and himself; for continued youth of the one and moving arm-chair for the other, but he recollected the roast pork for himself and the golden shoe-buckles for the other in time to say: ‘ ‘ Thirdly, I wish for three more wishes.” By this time George had begun to think it would be better, perhaps, to reserve some of his wishes for the twen-ty-five years of his life, so he laughingly said he would keep the third wish for the next day. To this Satan was obliged to agree, willing or not; so, green with rage and howling with fury, he ran away. But George, with curly black hair and blue coat with enormous silver buttons, walked proudly into his new house with Elise on his arm—the prettiest woman with the prettiest dresses to be seen in the entire neighborhood—with everything ready to their hand, and nothing to do but enjoy themselves and fancy what they needed next. At midnight George went to the crossroads again, for he and Elise thought of a host of needful things. The devil came when called, spitting fire and flame from fury, and George wished again! He wished to be the richest peasant in the country ; that his fields should yield harvest without planting; that if the enemy came his property should be invisible ; and then that there might be peace, for fear the sound of the cannons should disturb his afternoon nap. But after a time these wishes grew tame and he began to amuse jiimself at

Satan’s expense. Once he wished that his Majesty should dance a minuet before him, which he did, though yellow with wrath. Then, again, that he should stand on one foot for an hour and listen to hymns! So time passed away—twenty-four years, eleven months and twenty-nine days—and now the final hour had come. Long before he had wished that he and Elise should be good and true people, this too had come to pass. So he waited without anxiety for the coming hour. At 11 o’clock he sat in his arm-chair, placidly smoking his meerschaum, when Satan appeared before him, without waiting for a call. “Eleven o’clock!” hissed the tormented devil—“ one hour and you are mine ; then I will pay you these twentyfive years that are gone. Now what do you want?” “Threewishes more!” said George, with composure. “Well!” “ First play a game of cards with me and stake the tip of your tail on it.” “ Have you nothing better to think of in your last hour than jokes ? ” inquired Satan, sullenly. “No!” “Then we’ll play,” taking a pack of cards from his pocket. “ Secondly I wish for all the trumps!” The devil groaned aloud. They played, he lost and George pocketed the bit of tail with visible pleasure, while Satan gritted his teeth with pain. In a few seconds it would strike twelve. Beelzebub’s face grew bright, his eyes rolled with anticipation and he leaned eagerly forward. “ One more wish ! ” said George, quietly. “ Out with it,” croaked the devil. The clock began to strike. One—two ! “ Thirdly, I wish,” said George, thoughtfully, three ! —four !—“ I wish ” —five !—six! “ What?” howled Satan. Seven ! —eight!—nine ! “That our contract should be null and void,” exclaimed George, triumphantly. ■ A clap of thunder shook the house, the devil vanished in a flash of lightning, and the clock struck loudly, ten, eleven, twelve. The thunder had awakened Elise and she rushed into the room to find George standing before his chair laughing till his sides ached. “ What is the matter ? Have you lost your senses ?” demanded Elise. “ No, but come to bed, or I shall laugh myself dead.” * * * * * * * Since this adventure, the devil has been very shy about moking bargains with people noted for stupidity.— From the German, by Lizzie P. Lewis.