The Oakes times., 1907-03-21
HISSATANICMAJESTY
CURIOUS OLD LEGENDS CONCERNING
THE EVIL SPIRIT.

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There is a curious legend Of the
devil making his confession in Cologne
cathedral. He processes to repent his
crimes and to be willing to endure
thousand years Of penance. "My
son." says the priest "all you need
is to bow before the image Of the
Crucided and ask him for pardon"
"What" cries the devil. "He who
swept up the chips for Joseph, he
who hung on gallowsT And he
turned on his heel, with curse.
In popular legend and folklore the
devil is outwitted constantly, contracts
made with him are broken, and he is
again and again deceived by the simplest
expedients as substituting lantern
for the sunrise. This, II remember
rightly, occurs in the legend Of the
Devils Dixie at Brighton. As a child
terrified by very different Satan I
remember the light brought to my
own spirit by some story Of the kind.
The expedient in this case was cut
ting the sole out Of the shoe which
the devil had to fill with silver. The
shoe was never filed, and so he could
never claim his part Of the bargain.
remember feeling a thrill Of relief at
seeing that it was possible to evade
and elude him after all.
There is an Icelandic legend which
Is possibly the origin Of the proverb,
1.-THE DEVIL take the hindmost." He
had agreed to instruct seven scholars
in all the mysteries Of magic for no
other reward than that when their
seven years apprenticeship was over
he should have as his thrall the last
to leave for the last time by the single
narrow door. On that fatal day the
last to leave literally escaped him
eluded him by slipping out Of his
cloak, which the devil had grasped.
He became a most worthy parish
priest, venerated all over the island.
As the iron door slammed to it crush
ed his heel.
The devil is constantly represented
in tradition and folk tales as childish,
grotesque. spiteful. With his bellows
he tries to put out st. Genevieve's can
die as she carries it alight through
rain and wind to church. A very well
known legend is that Of st. Dunstan,
who, when attacked by him while busy
at the forge, brought the conflict to an
end by Selling the adversary with the
redhot tongs. This incident was the
most popular pageant provided by the
goldsmiths on lord mayors day, when
the mayor happened to be elected from
their company.
The lion and the dragon are the ami
mails typical Of the devil. It is said
that the ancient idea Of the animosity
between the lion and the cock Is the
origin Of the placing Of the weather
cock upon the steeple. A medieval
rhythm says of the cock, "In nocte
dun concinat leo perturbatur," and
the idea was to terrify Satan by
the sight Of the enemy on the high
est point Of the sacred building. The
dragon was the symbol Of the powers
Of darkness everywhere. In many Of
the stories Of saints delivering coun-
tryside from a devouring dragon the
dragon obviously represents paganism
destroyed by the labors Of the Chris
tian apostle. Up to the French revolu-
ton prisoner was set free at Rouen
every year on Ascension day In COM
memoration of the deliverance Of the
people from dragon by St Roman.
In Provence st. Martha bound a mon
ster called the tarasque with her girdle
80 that the people could slay him with
swords and glaives;" hence the name
Tarascon. In Spain monster snake,
called la tarasca, is dragged in the
Corpus Christi professions to signify
Christ's triumph over death and hell.
By the way. the Elizabethan injunc-
tions decreed that in the rogation-tide
professions 'there should be neither
George nor Margaret, but the old
dragon to come on alone and show
himself"
He was believed to have. special
power over the air. to be continually
stirring up thunderstorms and tenn
pests of wind and hail; hence the ring
ing Of the bells during thunderstorms
to frighten the evil spirits away. It
was by the help Of Satan that Simon
Magus, according to the early Chris
tian legend, floated in the air till COM
manded by st. Peter to descend. It is
significant that Leonardo da Vinci, the
typical figure Of the renaissance, spent
many years of his life in the endeavor
to invent a flying machine. The op-
position he met with from the clergy
and devout people was intense. It is
indeed difficult to imagine more con
crete symbol Of all that Is most oppos-
"a to what has been known historical
q as the Christian spirit than flying
machine. It must have seemed par
taking Of Lucifer's daring presump.
tion, to be speedily followed by a sim
ilar fall.-National Review.