“The Devil and the Fisherman.” The Turnip Princess: and other newly discovered fairy tales, Franz Xaver von Schönwerth, New York: Penguin Books, 2015, pp. 161-163.

Tale Summary

There was once an unlucky fisherman, who was walking home tormented that he could not catch any fish and would soon be out of a job. He met a little man wearing a green jacket and a red hat, and told him of his troubles. The little man said that he could help him, and in exchange the fisherman would have to turn over something that he did not know was in his home. He agreed, and at his usual fishing spot he was wildly successful. At home, he told the wife what had happened, and she revealed that she was expecting a child. The devil appeared and said that when the boy, named Zacharias, turned seven, he would be back to fetch him. When the boy was old enough to go to school, the fisherman explained his predicament to a priest, who gave him a prayer that Zacharias must repeat every night. One night, the boy forgot, and the devil took him. Zacharias woke up while flying through the sky and repeated the prayer, and at once the devil dropped him. He found himself atop a mountain, and made his way to a nearby palace. It was splendid, and he explored room after room to find marvels such as a three-legged giant with a lion's tail, and three-legged cattle with antlers. He also found a little man seated in the middle of the garden who told him that he would give the boy his staff so that he could master the castle. He warned Zacharias that over the next three nights, two giants and a giantess would appear. He told him that on the first night he must strike the giant with his staff so that he would collapse, and do the same thing the next night with the second giant. He was to chop them both up into little pieces and place each piece in each corner of the castle. On the third night he was to hit the giantess with the staff, then turn the staff towards the setting sun and throw it on the ground, which would cause the earth to open up and swallow her. He should then turn the staff towards the rising sun and stamp his foot, so that a beautiful young woman would appear, at which point she and the castle would belong to him. The boy followed these instructions exactly, and the entire court came to life and praised him. Zacharias and the beautiful young woman celebrated their marriage and lived happily together for a long time.