But at the first blow he found that the ax had no edge. Try as he would he couldn’t cut a single log.
“I’d be a fool to stay here and waste my time with such an ax!” he cried.
So he threw down the ax and ran away thinking to escape the Devil and get work somewhere else. But the Devil had no intention of letting him escape. He ran after him, overtook him, and asked him what he meant leaving thus without notice.
“I don’t want to work for you!” the oldest brother cried, petulantly.
“Very well,” the Devil said, “but don’t lose your temper about it.”
“I will so lose my temper!” the oldest brother declared. “The idea—expecting me to cut wood with such an ax!”
“Well,” the Devil remarked, “since you insist on losing your temper, you’ll have to forfeit me enough of your hide to sole a pair of boots! That was our bargain.”
The oldest brother howled and protested but to no purpose. The Devil was firm. He took out a long knife and slit off enough of the oldest brother’s hide to sole a pair of big boots.
“Now then, my boy,” he said, “now you may go.”
The oldest brother went limping home complaining bitterly at the hard fate that had befallen him.