Plinius Secundus remembers a house at Athens which Athenodorus, the philosopher, hired, and which no man durst inhabit, for fear of the haunting devils. Hesperius, the tribune's house, at Zubeda, near the city of Hippos, was also thus haunted; and he was so much vexed with these demons and ghosts that he could not rest.
Vasari, the Italian painter and biographer (d. 1574), tells the following strange tale of Spinello of Arezzo. When this artist had painted, in his famous fresco of the fall of the rebellious angels, the devil as a hideous demon and with seven heads about his body, the fiend came to him in the very bodily form he had conceived him, and asked the artist where he had seen him so, and why he had portrayed him in such a manner and put such a shame upon him? When Spinello came out of the vision, he was in a state of terror, and falling into a melancholy, soon died.
A mythical personage who originated in German folklore, was Friar Rusk. He was a fiendish looking creature who was really a devil, and kept monks and friars from leading a religious life. He was probably at one time a goodnatured imp like Robin Goodfellow, but under the influence of Christian superstition, he became the typical emissary from Satan who played tricks among men calculated to set them by the ears, and who sought by various devices, always amusing, to fit them for residence in his master's dominions. (Tuckerman, "History of Prose Fiction.")
Freischiitz, the free shooter, is a name given to a legendary huntsman who, by entering into a compact with the devil, procures balls six of which infallibly hit, however great the distance, while the seventh, or according to some of the versions, one of the seven, belongs to the devil, who directs it at his pleasure. Legends of this nature were rife among the troopers of Germany in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and during the Thirty Years' War. The story first appeared in Apel's "Ghost Book," and was made known to all civilized countries by Weber's opera in 1821.
Edward Alleyn, a famous actor of the times of Elizabeth and James I., was the founder of Dulwich college in 1619. The reason he left the stage and became religious, was because, one night when he was taking the part of the devil on the stage and dressed for it, he saw with his own eyes the devil himself appear before him and mock him. He soon after totally quitted his profession, and devoted the remainder of his life to religious exercises.
Once upon a time-tradition is never encumbered by dates-there lived at Mathafarn a person who went to law about some property. Not having heard any particulars as to the result of the case, which was tried in one of the supreme courts, he got so anxious that he sent his servant to London to make inquiries. The servant left for the metropolis, and in four days he was seen coming back towards the house. His master, believing it to be impossible that he could travel the distance of about four hundred miles in such a short time, was very angry; so angry that he determined to shoot him for fooling him. However, he was persuaded to hear first what the man had to say. The servant then came forward, and produced the papers belonging to the lawsuit and the money-his master had won the case. The latter now became more pleased than he was angry before, and presented his servant with a farm, called Cocshed, now rented at about lb40 per annum. This story has been handed down by tradition as an instance of the friendly feeling which was supposed to have existed between the devil and some favored individuals.
It is told in the South Mountains, Pa., that the devil tried to get possession of a girl in this way: He had assumed the form of an old man, and when the girl came to the house of her granny, to be "made into a witch," as in her silly head she fancied she wished to be, an old man came in and said: "So you wish to make a trade with me? Yes. Then," said he, "sit down on the floor, put one hand on the top of your head and the other under the soles of your feet and say, 'All that is between my two hands belongs to the devil.' " So the girl sat on the floor, did as she was bid, and said: "All that is between my two hands belongs to God!" At this unexpected termination, the old man gave a hideous howl and vanished.
There are two places on the Rhine where the father of lies still retains occupation. He has a devil's house, in which he may be seen at night, drinking hot spiced wine with a long since deceased prince. This proper pair often issues forth at night after their orgies, and, disguised as monks, play tricks on the ferrymen and their boats on the river, so that when morning comes, there is no man at his right station, and every boat is drifting off to sea.
Following is a description of the chief of the evil spirits in Arabian legend, by Beckford, in his "Vathek." Eblis seemed in person that of a young man whose noble and regular features seemed to have been tarnished by malignant vapors. In his large eyes appeared both pride and despair; his flowing hair retained some semblance to that of an angel of light. In his hand, which thunder had blasted, he swayed the iron scepter that caused monsters, afrits, and all the powers of the abyss to tremble.
In Arabia, the prince of the apostate angels is called Eblis, which means "despair," and he was exiled to the infernal regions because he would not worship Adam at the command of the Almighty. He gave as his excuse that he was formed out of ethereal fire, while Adam was formed out of common clay; why then should not Adam worship him, and not he Adam? The Mohammedans say that at the birth of their prophet, the throne of Eblis was precipitated to the bottom of hell, and the idols of the Gentiles were overturned.
In the Basque legends collected by Rev. W. Webster, we find the following: A wealthy man once promised to give a poor gentleman and his wife a large sum of money if they would tell him the devil's age. When the time came, the gentleman, at his wife's suggestion, plunged first into a barrel of honey and then into a barrel of feathers. He then walked on all fours. Presently up came his Satanic majesty and exclaimed: "X and x years have I lived," naming the exact number, "yet I never saw an animal like this!" The gentleman had heard enough, and was able to answer the question without difficulty.
Ariel had his birth before Shakespeare made him an airy and tricksy spirit in the "Tempest," for in the demonology of the Calaba he was a water-spirit, and in the fables of the Middle Ages a spirit of the air. Shakespeare represents him as having been a servant to Sycora, who, for some acts of disobedience, imprisoned him in the cleft of a pine tree, where he remained for twelve years, until released by Prospero. In gratitude for his deliverance, he became the willing messenger of Prospero, assuming any shape, or rendering himself invisible, in order to execute the commands of his master.
Authors distinguished for sense and talent record with great seriousness that the devil once delivered a course of lectures on magic at Salamanca, habited in a professor's gown and wig; and that another time he took up house at Milan, lived there in great style, and assumed, rather imprudently one would say, the suspicious yet appropriate title of the "Duke of Mammon." Even Luther entertained similar notions about the fiend, and, in fact, thought so meanly of him as to believe that he could come by night and steal nuts, and that he cracked them against the bedposts, for the solacement of his monkey-like appetite. In the Wartburg, there is to this day shown a black mark in Luther's room, which, as the guide will tell you, has been caused by Luther throwing his inkstand at the devil, when he ventured to annoy him while he was translating the Bible.
The powers ascribed to this debased demon were exceedingly great. The general belief was that, through his agency, storms at sea and land could at all seasons be raised; that crops could be blight
Suggested reading (pdf e-books):
Emilie Kip Baker - Stories From Northern MythsRobin Artisson - Dance Of The Witches Opening The Devil Eye
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