Page:The shoemaker's apron (1920).djvu/234

 plained: “this tablecloth of the Devil’s worked all right last night but it doesn’t work this morning.”

The little devil grinned.

“Oh, I see. And you want Prince Lucifer to take it back and give you something else, eh? Well, I’m sure he will. If you want my advice, I should say to ask him for that red rooster that sits in the chimney corner.”

The Prince received the shoemaker as kindly as before and was perfectly willing to exchange the tablecloth for the red rooster.

When the shoemaker got back to the gate, the little devil of a guard said:

“I see you’ve got the red rooster. Now I just want to tell you that’s no ordinary rooster. Whenever you need money, all you have to do is put that rooster on the table and say: ‘Crow, rooster, crow!’ He’ll crow and as he crows a golden ducat will drop from his bill!”

“What a lucky fellow I am!” the little shoemaker thought to himself as he hurried back to earth.

As night came on he stopped again at the same tavern and, when it was time to pay for his supper, he put the red rooster on the table and said:

“Crow, rooster, crow!”