Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 15, No. 88, April, 1875Various
History
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Volume 15, No. 88, April, 1875
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
No Polish story would be complete without a woman, and so we find that
Twardowsky had a wife, beautiful, witty and imperious, with all the
fascinations universally conceded to the Polish women. Madame Twardowsky
is said to have ruled her husband just as he ruled the devil during the
time of that personage's subjection; and there is a second version of
the story which makes her too much for Satan himself. According to this
account, Twardowsky was entertaining a number of friends at the "City of
Rome," when suddenly the devil appeared. While Twardowsky, to gain
time, was reading over the compact, his wife, looking over his
shoulder, suddenly laughed, and addressing the devil, told him there
were still three conditions for him to fulfill, on failure of which the
parchment should be torn up, and asked whether she might impose them.
The devil politely replied in the affirmative. "Here, then," said she,
"see this horse painted on the wall of the inn: I wish to mount him, and
you must make me a whip of sand and a staple of walnuts." The devil
bowed, and in a moment the horse was prancing before their eyes. The
lady now had a large tub of holy water brought in, and invited the
devil, as his second task, to plunge into it and refresh his weary
limbs. He coughed, shivered, then went in resolutely, coming out again
as quickly as possible, and shaking himself well. "The third task will
be a pleasant one," said the lady with her most bewitching smile: "The
first year my husband passes in hell you shall spend with me, swearing
to me love, fidelity and implicit obedience. Will you?" The devil rushed
toward the door, but she was too quick for him, and succeeded in locking
it and putting the key into her pocket. Satan, resolved to escape from
the servitude in store for him, could only do so by going through the
keyhole, which has been black ever since.
E. C. R.
A LETTER FROM HAVANA.
HAVANA, Feb. 14, 1875.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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