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Malecite - The Devil And The Card Players (Black) [6]
There was one place where they played poker and gambled every night. The priest was dead set against gambling. They'd just as soon gamble as go to church. One night these children were playing outside the home where they were gambling. William LaPorte was waiting for his father, who was in there gambling. He went in to get his father, who he wanted to go home before it got dark, but his father told him to go outside and play awhile. They had kerosene lamps in those days, and it was dark enough to light the lamps. The little boy sat outside waiting for his father. Pretty soon he saw someone lying on the grass. He went to take a closer look, thinking it was a dog. When he got there it was a little red devil with a prong on his tail. He had thorns all over him. He also had two horns and was lying with his head in his hands and his eyes were full of fire. He was watching the people gambling with a grin on his face. The boy ran to the house and told his father to get on home because the Devil was watching them gamble. He described what he saw and they went outside, but they could not see anything. He got his father home, and they still did not believe he saw it. Up until the day he died he still swore he saw it, and he was always afraid of the Devil.
[6] As told by Mrs. Black, Loring, ME, Sept., 1962. NAFOH Accession # 179, pg. 14. The story was told to her by her mother; the event itself is supposed to have happened about 70 years ago. There cannot be less than two dozen versions of the tale of the Devil appearing to the card players in the NFS Archives, most of them coming from Aroostook County. To put it another way, the story is best known in those areas where there is the heaviest French-Canadian impress. This version is somewhat different from the “normal” form in that the Devil does not appear directly to the cardplayers, nor does he join in the game (where he is discovered by his cloven hoof), but it is clearly in the tradition. Motifs G303.6.1.5. Devil appears when cards are played; G303.5.3 The devil is dressed in red; G303.4.1.2.2 Devil with glowing eyes; G303.4.1.6 Devil has horns; G303.4.6 The devil's tail. See also Christiansen, 24-28 (No. 3015), for further information on the “normal” form.
NORTHEAST FOLKLORE
Volume VI: 1964
MALECITE AND PASSAMAQUODDY TALES
Permission given to use given by Maine Folklife Center, University of Maine.
This does not convey the right to republish them in any other form or for profit.
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