THE DEVIL CHEATED.
The story of how a Faust of the Sea outwitted the Devil was told .to the students of Liverpool College by Sir John Masefield when he visited the city in connection with Liverpool’s celebration of its “ kinship of the sea,” . A certain Alfonso, he related (according to a report in the Daily Chronicle) sold his soul to the Devil on condition that for 20 years bo should have whatever he desired. For 19 years 10 months Alfonso had the time of his life. Then, thinking of the Devil coming to claim his price, he went to Liverpool and shipped as an ordinary seaman. Out in the Indian Ocean the Devil claimed the soul. " Don’t keep me long as I’m a busy man,” be said. But his agreement was to be cancelled if be were set three tasks which he could not perform, and the captain set him these:— Take a reef in tire topsail. Step into a boat, and, with a teaspoon, Eut all tbe water from one side of the oat to the other. Stop the chain cable when the anchor was let go. The topsail was as still as a board; the anchor chain had been well greased; and the Devil could not do any of tbe three tasks. As he bung on to the last link of the chain it broke and carried him to the bottom of the sea, never to be beard of again.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 21022, 10 May 1930, Page 11
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242THE DEVIL CHEATED. Otago Daily Times, Issue 21022, 10 May 1930, Page 11
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