A seminarian from Bissen, who had returned to his father’s house for the holidays, was asked what he had learned so far. He replied that, as an exorcist, he had received the power to banish the Devil. The father then asked his son to amuse them by conjuring the Devil up from Hell. The seminarian knelt down and prayed softly from a book.

It was not long before three heavy blows resounded on the parlour door. And behold, at the third blow a strange little man sprang in through a crack. At first they laughed at the tiny figure; but as the prayer went on, the little man kept growing, and soon he was the size of a full-grown man. Horrified, they begged the seminarian to banish the Devil again.

But—oh terror—he continued to grow; the doors and windows were already too small to let him out. Bathed in cold sweat, the son went on praying; the whole family fell to their knees beside him. Thus they prayed for hours, trying to rid themselves of the evil spirit, who seemed unwilling to leave the house.

At last he began to shrink, and when he had finally dwindled again to a tiny little man, he vanished with a dreadful crash through the wall, after filling the whole house with the stench of sulphur.

J. Engling, manuscript, p. 176.