Old Men Made Young

In Psamatia, an ancient Armenian village situated near the Seven

Towers, there lived a certain smith, whose custom it was, in

contradiction to prescribed rules, to curse the devil and his works

regularly five times a day instead of praying to God. He argued that

it is the devil's fault that man had need to pray. The devil was

angered at being thus persistently cursed, and decided to punish the

smith, or at least prevent his causing further trouble.

Taking the form of a young man he went to the smith and engaged

himself as an apprentice. After a time the devil told the smith that

he had a very poor and mean way of earning a living, and that he would

show him how money was to be made. The smith asked what he, a young

apprentice, could do. Thereupon the devil told him that he was endowed

with a great gift: the power to make old men young again. Though

incredulous, after continued assurance the smith allowed a sign to be

put above his door, stating that aged people could here be restored to

youth. This extraordinary sign attracted a great many, but the devil

asked such high prices that most went away, preferring age to parting

with so much money.

At last one old man agreed to pay the sum demanded by the devil,

whereupon he was promptly cast into the furnace, the master-smith

blowing the bellows for a small remuneration. After a time of vigorous

blowing the devil raked out a young man. The fame of the smith

extended far and wide, and many were the aged that came to regain

their youth. This lucrative business went on for some time, and at

last the smith, thinking to himself that it was not a difficult thing

to throw a man into the furnace and rake him out from the ashes

restored to youth, decided to do away with his apprentice's services,

but kept the sign above the door.

It happened that the captain of the Janissaries, who was a very aged

man, came to him, and after bargaining for a much more modest sum than

his apprentice would have asked, the smith thrust him into the furnace

as the devil, his apprentice, used to do, and worked at the bellows.

He afterwards raked in the fire for the young man but he only raked

out cinders and ashes. Great was his consternation, but what could he

do?

The devil in the meantime went to the head of the Janissaries and the

police, and informed them of what had taken place. The poor smith was

arrested, tried, and condemned to be bowstrung, as it was proved that

the Janissary was last seen to enter his shop.

Just as the smith was about to be executed, the devil again appeared

before him in the form of the discharged apprentice, and asked him if

he wished to be saved; if so, that he could save him, but on one

condition only,--that he ceased from cursing the devil five times a

day and pray as other Mussulmans prayed. He agreed. Thereupon the

apprentice called in a loud voice to those who were about to execute

him: "What will you of this man? He has not killed the Janissary; he

is not dead, for I have just seen him entering his home." This was

found to be true, and the smith was liberated, learning the truth of

the proverb, 'Curse not even the devil.'