Tricking the Devil by Dorla Gundersheimer

The first contest implied carrying the mare on one’s back and running in circles around the lake three times. Should the man win, he would keep the money if not, the devil would take it back to his leader. He told Danila that before he could rightfully take the money, they had to have a contest of strength. As the man was getting ready to leave with the money, another devil came out of the lake. Upon returning to the lake, the devil saw that Scaraoschi was very upset over having lost the gold. When the devil gave Danila the sack, the man accepted - admitting that he preferred money over being a monk. (1975 Animafilm)ĭesperate, Scaraoschi sent a devil to give Danila a huge sack full of gold in order to stop him from building the monastery on their space.

Suddenly, a devil came out of the pond and asked him what he was doing. Seeing that there was no way to reason with the human, the devil jumped back into the lake and told Scaraoschi (the Romanian name for the chief of the devils, Satan himself) what was going on. When the man replied that he was building a monastery, the devil said that the place belonged to him and his kind. He marked the place with a wooden cross and began to gather the wood he needed to start the construction. So, he decided to build a monastery there. Danila looked at the plain near the lake and thought that he might make a good monk. He entered a forest and reached the lake in the middle of it. ( Public Domain )Īs he had gotten himself into a lot of trouble, Danila Prepeleac stole his brother’s mare to run away. Ion Creangă, the creator of the character Danila Prepeleac. One example of a human trickster is the character Danila Prepeleac, from the tale written by author Ion Creangă. Also, in many cases, the Devil is fooled by clever humans who manage to escape him by means of various tricks. Romanian mythology and folklore present a more comic image of the Devil.

Tricking the Devil by Dorla Gundersheimer