He raised the dull ax and with one blow cut off the evil creature’s head. Sure enough the ax instantly recovered its edge and after that Erkki had no trouble at all in chopping as much firewood as the Devil wanted.
That night at supper the Devil said:
“Well, Erkki, did you finish the work I gave you?”
“Yes, master, I’ve chopped all that wood.”
The Devil was surprised.
“Really?”
“Yes, master. You can go out and see for yourself.”
“Then you found something in the woodpile, didn’t you?”
“Nothing but an awful looking old cat.”
The Devil started.