One day the imp said to him—
“My man, I have had enough of this kind of thing. I am now going to take possession of a rich man’s daughter. Don’t you come to heal her, for I warn you that if you do so I will tear you to pieces.”
Away he went. The daughter was possessed, and was so beside herself that no one dare venture near her. Away sent her relations for the wonderful doctor. The peasant, however, was unwilling to take the case in hand. He would not come. At last the folk sent their servants to bring him to the house by force, declaring that if he refused to come they would kill him.
The man did not know what to do; at last he thought he saw his way out of the difficulty.
In the road running beside the house he collected a number of coachmen, grooms, and others, and ordered them to run up and down, smacking their whips and crying as loudly as they could—
“That wretched woman has come again! that wretched woman has come again!”
When the hubbub was at its full height the peasant went into the house.
“What!” cried the imp. “You have come, have you? Well then, now, I will make you repent it.”
“My dear friend,” said the man, “it is true I have come, but I came to do you a service. I came to tell you that that miserable woman has come back again.”
“What!” cried the imp.