Atondido Stories
"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!"
The rooster crowed and sure enough a golden ducat dropped
from his bill.
The covetous landlord licked his greedy lips and hurried off
to his wife.
"We've got a red rooster," the wife said. "I'll tell you what
we'll do: when the shoemaker's asleep we'll trade roosters. He's a
simple fellow and will never know the difference."
So the next morning after breakfast, when the shoemaker put
what he thought was his own rooster on the table and said:
"Crow, rooster, crow!" of course nothing happened.
"I wonder what's the matter with you," he said to the rooster.
"I'll have to take you back to the Devil."
So again he tramped down to hell and explained to the little
devil of a guard that the rooster no longer dropped golden duc-
ats from his bill.
The little devil listened and grinned.
"I suppose you want Prince Lucifer to give you something
else, eh?"
The shoemaker nodded.
"I'm sure he will," the little devil said. "He seems to have tak-
en quite a fancy to you. Now take my advice and ask him for the
pair of clubs that are lying under the oven."
So the shoemaker when he was led again into Lucifer's pres-
ence explained to the Prince that the red rooster no longer
worked and please would His Highness give him something else
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