Prevod

A discharged soldier had nothing to live on and no longer knew what to do. So he went out into the forest, and after he had walked a little way, he met a little man, who was none other than the devil. The little man said to him, "What is the matter? You look so downcast." The soldier replied, "I am hungry, but I have no money." The devil said, "If you will hire yourself out to me and be my servant, you shall have enough for the rest of your life. You must serve me for seven years, and then you will be free again. But there is one thing I must tell you: you must not wash, comb your hair, shave, cut your nails or hair, or wipe the water from your eyes." The soldier said, "Then let us get on with it, if there is nothing else for it," and went off with the little man, who led him straight down into hell. There he told him what he had to do: he must stoke the fires beneath the cauldrons where the damned sat roasting, keep the house clean, carry the sweepings behind the door, and see that everything was in order. But if he looked into a cauldron even once, it would go badly for him. The soldier said, "Very well, I shall see to it." Then the old devil went off on his travels again, and the soldier began his service, feeding the fires, sweeping, and carrying the sweepings behind the door, just as he had been told. When the old devil returned, he checked that everything had been done, declared himself satisfied, and went away a second time. Now the soldier took a good look about him. All around hell stood the cauldrons, with mighty fires burning beneath them, and inside them things bubbled and sizzled. He would have dearly loved to look inside, had the devil not forbidden it so strictly. At last he could restrain himself no longer, lifted the lid of the first cauldron just a little, and peered in. There sat his former sergeant. "Aha, you rascal," he said, "so here you are! You had me in your power, and now I have you." He quickly dropped the lid, stoked the fire, and piled on fresh fuel. Then he went to the second cauldron, lifted its lid a little too, and looked inside. There sat his ensign. "Aha, you rascal, so here you are! You had me in your power, and now I have you." He shut the lid again and fetched another log to make things good and hot for him. Now he wanted to see who was sitting in the third cauldron, and there was a general himself. "Aha, you rascal, so here you are! You had me in your power, and now I have you." He fetched the bellows and made the fires of hell blaze merrily beneath him. In this way he served for seven years in hell, never washing, combing his hair, shaving, cutting his nails or hair, or wiping the water from his eyes. And the seven years passed so quickly that he thought it had been only half a year. When his time was finally up, the devil came and said, "Well, Hans, what have you been doing?" "I have stoked the fires beneath the cauldrons, swept the floor, and carried the sweepings behind the door." "But you have also looked into the cauldrons. It is lucky for you that you put more wood on the fires, or you would have paid with your life. Now your time is up. Do you want to go home again?" "Yes," said the soldier, "I should like to see how my father is getting on at home." The devil said, "So that you receive the wages you have earned, go and fill a knapsack with sweepings and take it home with you. You must leave unwashed and uncombed, with long hair and a long beard, uncut nails, and bleary eyes. And if anyone asks where you come from, you must say, 'From hell,' and if anyone asks who you are, you must say, 'The devil's sooty brother, and my own king too.'" The soldier said nothing and did as the devil told him, but he was not at all pleased with his wages.

As soon as he was back up in the forest, he took the knapsack off his back and was about to empty it out. But when he opened it, the sweepings had turned to pure gold. "I should never have expected that," he said, and went happily into town. The innkeeper was standing outside his inn, and when he saw Hans approaching, he took fright, for Hans looked dreadful, worse than a scarecrow. He called out to him and asked, "Where do you come from?" "From hell!" "Who are you?" "The devil's sooty brother, and my own king too!" The innkeeper would not let him in, but when Hans showed him the gold, he went and opened the door himself. Hans ordered the best room and the finest food, ate and drank his fill, but neither washed nor combed his hair, as the devil had instructed him, and at last lay down to sleep. But the innkeeper could not stop thinking about the knapsack full of gold, and it gave him no peace until he crept in during the night and stole it.

When Hans rose the next morning and was ready to pay the innkeeper and go on his way, his knapsack was gone. But he soon made up his mind, thinking, "This misfortune is no fault of your own," and turned straight back to hell. There he told the old devil of his trouble and asked for help. The devil said, "Sit down. I shall wash you, comb your hair, shave you, cut your hair and nails, and wipe your eyes." When he had finished, he gave him the knapsack full of sweepings again and said, "Go and tell the innkeeper to give you back your gold, or I shall come and fetch him, and he shall stoke the fires in your place." Hans went back up and said to the innkeeper, "You stole my gold. If you do not give it back, you will go to hell in my place and look as hideous as I did." Then the innkeeper gave him back the gold, and more besides, and begged him not to breathe a word about it. And now Hans was a rich man.

Hans set out for his father's home, bought himself a shabby linen smock, and went about playing music, for he had learned to do so with the devil in hell. There was an old king in the land, and Hans was called upon to play before him. The king was so delighted that he promised Hans his eldest daughter in marriage. But when she heard that she was to marry such a common fellow in a white smock, she said, "Sooner than do that, I would throw myself into the deepest water!" So the king gave him his youngest daughter, who was quite willing to marry him for her father's sake. And so the devil's sooty brother won the king's daughter and, when the old king died, the whole kingdom as well.