Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 75.djvu/618

612

harm." They went to it and God broke the stone with his whip. Then the devil sprang out of it and grabbed God's horse. The devil said to God, "I and you were both in the same stone. I and you are of the same origin. I am the heart of the stone like you, so give me part of the world." While God chose for himself men and animals, the devil chose the souls. But the angels said to him: "Rejoice not overmuch. Know that the souls will remain in your hand only until a Son of God is born, who will free the dead from thy kingdom." The devil answered: "That will be a long time hence."

God placed himself and his archangels upon the cloud, raised himself high over the earth and created the heavens. Satanael made, with his devils, a second heaven that was higher than God's. God would not live below Satanael and raised himself higher and made a third heaven. In this way, vying with each other, they created nine heavens, one above the other, and Satanael began to build a tenth heaven still higher. Then God lost his patience and commanded his angels that they throw Satanael and his devils down from heaven.

Satanael and his angels fell down upon the earth. Each took his name from the place where he fell. He who fell in the wood became a wood devil, he that fell upon the water became a water devil.

In the Balkans they describe this fall of the angels thus:

We may continue the story as it is told by the Bulgarians:

As now Satan saw the great broad earth, he hit upon the deceitful plan of putting God to sleep and then throwing him in the water; taking possession of the earth himself and claiming honor as creator of the earth. God of course knew Satan's plan, but laid him down as if to sleep. Satan then seized God and carried him to the great water to throw him in. As he came to the shore the land began to grow rapidly so that he could in no wise reach the water. He turned back to the opposite shore, but for the same reason could not reach that. And as he could not reach the water from the third side because of the growth of the land before him, he let God slide down on the ground, and sank down beside him. After he had slept awhile he took God up again and carried him in the fourth direction to the water. As the land began immediately to grow in this direction also, so in this direction also he failed to reach the water.

He then waked God up, saying, "Arise, God, let us bless the earth 1 Lo, how it is grown while we slept." God answered him, "As you have carried me in four directions, to throw me in the water, and thus with my body described a cross, I have blessed the earth already, that it grow and flourish." This made Satan wroth and he left God. God remained alone, and the earth grew continuously, so that it could no longer be covered by the sun's light. Then God created out of his spirit angels and sent the war angel to ask Satanael what he should do to stop the earth's growing.

In the meantime the devil had made him a goat, and he came to God riding on the back of the goat, for which he had made a beard of earth. Since that time goats have beards to the present day. As the angels saw the devil riding toward them they laughed at him; he was wroth and rode back. On the instant God created a bee and said: "Fly quickly to Satan and listen to his speech. Return and inform me." The bee then flew to Satan and perched on his shoulder as he spoke to himself, "Oh, this foolish God (O dieser dummer Gott), he knows not that he needs only to take a stick and mark the earth with a cross