The Devil and Tom Walker - wikipedia The Devil and Tom Walker This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( September 2014 ) `` The Devil and Tom Walker '' Author Washington Irving Country United States / England Published in Tales of a Traveller Publisher John Murray ( UK ) Carey & Lea ( USA ) Media type Print Publication date 1824 `` The Devil and Tom Walker '' is a short story by Washington Irving that first appeared in his 1824 collection Tales of a Traveller, as part of the `` Money - Diggers '' section. The story is very similar to the German legend of Faust. Stephen Vincent Benét drew much of his inspiration for `` The Devil and Daniel Webster '' from this tale. Contents 1 Summary 2 Editions 3 References 4 External links Summary The story starts with the legend of William Kidd the pirate. It is rumored that Kidd had buried a large treasure in a forest in colonial Massachusetts. Kidd made a deal with the devil to protect his money. The devil 's conditions are unknown. Kidd died never able to reclaim his money, but the devil has protected it ever since. The story continues around 1727. Old Scratch appears as a lumberjack or a woodsman chopping trees, each with a prominent and wealthy colonialist 's name branded on the trunk. One rotted and soon - to - fall tree has the name of a deacon who grew wealthy `` trading '' with the Indians. Another fallen trunk has that of a wealthy seaman rumored to be a pirate. Burdened with this secret, he tells his wife. While he has no scruples in selling himself to Old Scratch for the treasure, he does not wish to do so for his wife 's sake. She meets Old Scratch herself but tells her husband Old Scratch requires an offering. When Tom is away, she takes all their valuables in and goes to make a deal with Old Scratch. When Tom searches for his wife and property, all he finds is her apron holding her heart and liver, tied to a tree. Tom Walker agrees to Old Scratch 's deal, as he considered his abusive wife 's death a good thing. Because he can only use the treasure in Old Scratch 's service, Tom agrees to become a usurer ( today commonly called a loan shark ), although Tom has scruples about becoming a slave trader. During the governorship of Jonathan Belcher ( 1730 - 1741 ), speculation runs rampant, and Walker 's business flourishes. Becoming a member of the local stock exchange, Tom buys a big house and a coach but furnishes neither even though he has the money ( he is so miserly he even half starves his horses ). Tom never tires of swindling people until he suddenly becomes fearful about the afterlife. He then becomes fiercely and loudly dedicated to God, always keeping two Bibles at hand -- thinking that any sin on his neighbor 's `` account '' is a `` credit '' to his own. He even has his best riding horse saddled and buried upside down so that he might flee when Old Scratch comes to collect his due from Tom. One day a ruined stock jobber ( speculator ) who had borrowed money from him asks for clemency and annoys Tom, who says, `` The Devil take me if I have made but a farthing ! '' ( the smallest currency of the time, 1 / 4 of a penny ). There are three loud knocks at the door. Tom is drawn towards a black - cloaked figure and realizes, in horror, that he has left his Bibles at his desk. Old Scratch tosses Tom Walker on the back of a black horse which rides toward the old fortress and disappears in lightning. Tom is never seen again. All his assets become worthless -- his coach horses become skeletons, the gold and silver Tom hoarded turn into wood chips and shavings, his mortgages and deeds become cinders, and his great house burns to the ground. Since that day, his ghost haunts the site of the old fortress. His only legacy is a New England saying, `` The Devil and Tom Walker ''. Editions Washington Irving, Rip Van Winkle ; Legend of Sleepy Hollow ; The Devil and Tom Walker ; The Voyage ; Westminster Abbey ; Stratford - on - Avon ; The Stout Gentleman, Doubleday & McClure Company, 1902, pp. 93 - 113 : `` The Devil and Tom Walker ''. References Wikisource has original text related to this article : The Devil and Tom Walker Jump up ^ Irving, Washington ( 1824 ). `` The Devil and Tom Walker ''. Tales of a Traveller. ISBN 9780805785159. External links The Devil and Tom Walker public domain audiobook at LibriVox Washington Irving Short story collections The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. ( 1819 -- 20 ) `` The Legend of Sleepy Hollow '' `` Rip Van Winkle '' Bracebridge Hall ( 1822 ) Tales of a Traveller ( 1824 ) `` The Devil and Tom Walker '' Tales of the Alhambra ( 1832 ) Biography and history The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus ( 1828 ) Mahomet and His Successors ( 1849 ) Astoria ( 1836 ) Other Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent. ( 1802 ) Salmagundi ( 1807 -- 08 ) Commons Wikiquote Wikisource texts Faust Characters Inspiration Johann Georg Faust Johann Fust Simon Magus Theophilus of Adana Legend Erdgeist Faust Mephistopheles Pan Twardowski Comics Doctor Faustus Felix Faust Mephisto Mys - Tech Sebastian Faust Seminal works Historia von D. Johann Fausten ( 1587 chapbook ) Cenodoxus ( 1602, play ) Doctor Faustus ( 1604 play ) Goethe 's Faust ( 1808 play ) Faust, Part One Faust, Part Two Related Deal with the Devil in popular culture Works based on Faust G vs E Vi veri universum vivus vici Stingy Jack Films Faust and Marguerite ( 1900 ) The Damnation of Faust ( 1903 ) Faust and Marguerite ( 1904 ) The Student of Prague ( 1913 ) The Student of Prague ( 1926 ) Faust ( 1926 ) The Devil and Daniel Webster ( 1941 ) Alias Nick Beal ( 1949 ) Beauty and the Devil ( 1950 ) Marguerite de la nuit ( 1955 ) Damn Yankees ( 1958 ) Faust ( 1960 ) Bedazzled ( 1967 ) Doctor Faustus ( 1967 ) El extraño caso del doctor Fausto ( 1969 ) Mephisto ( 1981 ) Doctor Faustus ( 1982 ) Faust ( 1994 ) The Master and Margarita ( 1994 ) Bedazzled ( 2000 ) Faust : Love of the Damned ( 2001 ) Fausto 5.0 ( 2001 ) I Was a Teenage Faust ( 2002 ) Shortcut to Happiness ( 2003 ) Faust ( 2011 ) Plays Gretchen ( 1879 ) Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter ? ( 1955 ) The Black Bonspiel of Wullie MacCrimmon ( 1965 ) Temptation ( 1986 ) Operas Faust ( 1816, Spohr ) La damnation de Faust ( 1846, Berlioz ) Faust ( 1859, Gounod ) Mefistofele ( 1868, Boito ) Faust and Marguerite ( 1855, Lutz ) Faust up to Date ( 1888, Lutz ) Doktor Faust ( 1916 -- 25, Busoni ) Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights ( 1938 ) The Rake 's Progress ( 1951, Stravinsky ) Reuben, Reuben ( 1955 ) Historia von D. Johann Fausten ( 1994 ) Faustus, the Last Night ( 2006 ) Classical music Gretchen am Spinnrade ( 1814, Schubert ) Faust Overture ( 1840, Wagner ) Grande sonate ' Les quatre âges ' 2nd movement `` Quasi-Faust '' ( 1847, Alkan ) Scenes from Goethe 's Faust ( 1853, Schumann ) Part II of Symphony No. 8 ( 1906 -- 07, Mahler ) Faust Symphony ( 1854 -- 57, Liszt ) Mephisto Waltzes ( Liszt ) Gothic Symphony ( Brian ) Bagatelle sans tonalité ( Liszt ) Other music Albums Epica Saga Epica The Black Halo Beethoven 's Last Night The Black Rider Songs `` Mephisto Polka '' ( 1859 -- 85 ) `` Cross Road Blues '' ( 1936 ) `` Sympathy for the Devil '' ( 1968 ) `` Friend of the Devil '' ( 1970 ) `` Bohemian Rhapsody '' ( 1975 ) `` The Devil Went Down to Georgia '' ( 1979 ) `` Faustian Echoes '' ( 2012 ) `` The Mephistopheles of Los Angeles '' ( 2015 ) Television Episodes `` The Devil 's Hands Are Idle Playthings '' ( 2003 ) Other The Devil and Daniel Mouse ( 1978 ) Musicals Damn Yankees ( 1955 ) Randy Newman 's Faust ( 1993 ) Success ! ( 1993 ) Faust ( 2003 ) Prose `` Bearskin '' `` Daniel and the Devil '' Melmoth the Wanderer ( 1820 ) `` The Devil and Tom Walker '' ( 1824 ) St. John 's Eve ( 1830 ) Auriol ( 1844 ) Chasse - galerie ( 1892 ) The Sorrows of Satan ( 1896 ) Exploits and Opinions of Dr. Faustroll, Pataphysician ( 1898 ) The Master and Margarita ( 1929 -- 40 ) Mephisto ( 1936 ) The Devil and Daniel Webster ( 1937 ) None but Lucifer ( 1939 ) Doktor Faustus ( 1947 ) The Devil in Velvet ( 1951 ) The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant ( 1954 ) Gimmicks Three ( 1956 ) The Devil to Pay in the Backlands ( 1956 ) That Hell - Bound Train ( 1958 ) For a Breath I Tarry ( 1966 ) The Damnation Game ( 1986 ) Eric ( 1990 ) The Devil 's Own Work ( 1991 ) Jack Faust ( 1997 ) Johannes Cabal the Necromancer ( 2009 ) Ballet Faust Art Faust Gods ' Man Poems Manfred Video games Knights Contract Comics Ghost Rider Faust Soul Cartel Anime & manga Faust Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Devil_and_Tom_Walker&oldid=804764688 '' Categories : Short stories by Washington Irving Works based on the Faust legend The Devil in fiction Cultural depictions of William Kidd 1824 works Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from September 2014 All articles needing additional references Articles with LibriVox links Talk Contents About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 11 October 2017, at 00 : 38. 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Question: where did the devil and tom walker take place
Answer: colonial Massachusetts