When the Devil heard this, he begged and prayed till his voice was as thin as a silver penny that he might have leave to come down; but there was no help for it. There he was, and there he must stay. At last he had to give his word of honour not to come again till the four years were out, which the Smith had spoken of, and then the Smith said, “Very well, now you may come down.”
So when the time was up, the Devil came again to fetch the Smith.
“You’re ready now, of course”, said he; “you’ve had time enough to hammer the head of that nail, I should think.”
“Yes, the head is right enough now”, said the Smith; “but still you have come a little tiny bit too soon, for I haven’t quite done sharpening the point; such plaguey hard iron I never hammered in all my born days. So while I work at the point, you may just as well sit down in my easy chair and rest yourself; I’ll be bound you’re weary after coming so far.”
“Thank you kindly”, said the Devil, and down he plumped into the easy chair; but just as he had made himself comfortable, the Smith said, on second thoughts, he found he couldn’t get the point sharp till four years were out. First of all, the Devil begged so prettily to be let out of the chair, and afterwards, waxing wroth, he began to threaten and scold; but the Smith kept on, all the while excusing himself, and saying it was all the iron’s fault, it was so plaguy hard, and telling the Devil he was not so badly off to have to sit quietly in an easy chair, and that he would let him out to the minute when the four years were over. Well, at last there was no help for it, and the Devil had to give his word of honour not to fetch the Smith till the four years were out; and then the Smith said:
“Well now, you may get up and be off about your business”, and away went the Devil as fast as he could lay legs to the ground.
When the four years were over, the Devil came again to fetch the Smith, and he called out, as he stuck his nose in at the door of the forge:
“Now, I know you must be ready.”
“Ready, aye, ready”, answered the Smith; “we can go now as soon as you please; but hark ye, there is one thing I have stood here and thought, and thought, I would ask you to tell me. Is it true what people say, that the Devil can make himself as small as he pleases?”
“God knows, it is the very truth”, said the Devil.