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 packing on their backs all. the choicest cuts of the meat, they staggered down to hell.

When the little devil of a guard saw them coming, he grinned and chuckled.

“Welcome!” he cried. “We’ve been waiting for you a long time! Come right in!”

He led them to Prince Lucifer and the Prince recognized them instantly.

“It’s very good of you coming before you had to,” he said. “This saves me a trip to earth. I was thinking just the other day it was time to go after you. And see all that fine meat you’ve brought with you! I certainly am glad to see you! It isn’t often I have the pleasure of meeting people as avaricious, as greedy, as mean, as you two have been. In fact, both of you are such ornaments to hell that I think I’ll just have to keep you here forever!”

So the rich farmer and his wife were never again seen on earth.

As for the shoemaker—he and his family lived long and merrily. They shared their good fortune with others, never forgetting the time when they, too, suffered from poverty. And because they were good and kind, the Devil’s gifts brought them only happiness.