Tags after his foolish body, hoping I’ll get tired of it and give it back, I suppose.—And so I will when I find a better one. It’s no fun for a fiend of my renowned gentlemanly appearance to be masquerading as a Dutch comedian. Worse than that—the police are looking for it. That’s why I was hiding in your garden when I happened to hear you call me. The Devil, in jail—a fine tale to take back to Mars.
AGNUS (aghast)
Man, you should be in some lunatic asylum—
MAN
Don’t call me “man.” That’s a deadly insult. If ever a respectable Martian was sick of anything, it’s that unreasonable ignorant ridiculous combination of poll-parrot and monkey—
AGNUS
Poor lunatic! I must humor you, I suppose.—Have you forgotten there have been great men?
THE DEVIL
Never. I have been all the great men in history. All the great men have been The Devil: alias Wisdom. By taking possession of men’s bodies I have tried to set up an ideal to strive for, set the race an example. And then, when I had to quit and go back to Mars, each time the human’s little soul came back to its body and, finding itself with too much power, was responsible for all the inconsistencies, treacheries, and cruelties that have puzzled psychologists and historians—
AGNUS