Poor X was once standing on the fish market in Luxembourg, sadly pondering his fate. His desire to become a rich man was so strong that he came upon the idea of calling on the Devil for help. Hardly had he done so when the Devil approached him, dressed as a prosperous citizen.
After some bargaining and haggling, they agreed that the Devil should have X’s soul after thirty years, on the condition that he give X 12,000 francs. The deed was signed by X with his own blood. X then founded a large factory and became a rich man.
However, the thirtieth year drew near, and X grew anxious. He turned to the Jesuit Father Fränzchen, famous for his piety and his power over evil spirits. Following the advice and instruction of the Father, X mended his ways, visited St Nicholas’ Church in the city every day, and prayed diligently.
When the thirtieth anniversary came, X locked the doors of his house and went to the church mentioned above. In a fiery carriage drawn by four fiery dogs, the Devil drove up to X’s house, knocked, and received from the porter the answer that X was not at home.
“Where is he?” asked the Devil. “I do not know,” replied the porter, and closed the door.
The Devil then drove three more times around the house with his carriage, then across the glacis to St Nicholas’ Church, and three times around the church as well. He knocked, but was not admitted. Then he slipped through the keyhole towards X, whom Father Fränzchen had placed in a tub of holy water. He seized X by the hair and pulled him so far out of the water that X was touching the holy water only with the tip of his little toe, but he had to let him go again, for he was too heavy.
The church trembled, and the clergy, all except Father Fränzchen, fell to the ground. Once more the Devil drove three times around the church, then around the altar, and again seized X by the hair, but this time he could only lift him as far as the waist. He repeated the same thing a third time; now the Devil could no longer lift X at all. In a rage he plunged X once more completely under the water, raced three more times around the church, burned the written contract, and departed forever.
X was delivered, and because Father Fränzchen had helped him break his pact with the Devil, he rewarded the Father and the entire monastery generously. X remained devout and God-fearing, and his descendants are still rich and happy to this day.
