One day, an old woman went from her village to the city of Amman to visit her grandson. It was hot summer when, on a dusty and hot road, she met a tired, but still ominous figure, wrapped in a black cloak.
- Good morning! - she said, because she had nothing more to say, and also because the villagers always greet each other.
- And good morning to you, oh woman! - the traveler snapped.
“That’s a nice way to keep the conversation going,” said the old woman, “and who are you that you allow yourself to say such things to the children of Adam?”
- I hate the children of Adam and allow myself to say so because I am the Devil myself! - he growled.
The old woman, not the least bit frightened, asked:
“And what business do you have in the great city?”
“Well,” said the Devil, “there will always be something for me to do in a place like this.”
“You don’t really look like the Devil, in my opinion.” I think I can do everything you do any day of the week.
“Great,” the Devil grabbed, “I’ll give you three days, and if you do something worse in Amman that even I wouldn’t do, then I promise to leave this city for the rest of my days.”
They made a deal and entered the city.
- When will you start? - asked the Devil, who was impatient to see at least some outrages.
“I’ll start right now, and you can watch me, on the condition that you yourself become invisible.”
- Will that work? - he asked, and the old woman stopped seeing him, continuing to feel his hot breath near her ear. “Get started,” he rasped impatiently.
The old woman went to the store of the richest textile merchant in the city, and sitting at the entrance asked him to bring the best silk.
“It must be something really unusual,” she said. “My grandson fell in love with the wife of a rich gentleman, and would like to give her a gift that she will not forget for a long time, in order to soften her heart towards him. She said that she would give in to him if he gave her a piece of the best silk that money could buy.
“This is none of my business, you don’t need to go into details,” said the merchant, “but you’re in luck, I have exactly what you’re looking for: a piece of the best silk in the world.” I had two pieces, but I sold one to the royal palace, so you can imagine the quality.
The old woman began to look at the piece and said to the merchant:
- Still, this is a very expensive thing, and most likely I will buy it. Tell me, is this how you treat all your important customers?
- What do you mean? - asked the merchant.
“Well, at least bring me a pipe of tobacco so I can smoke until I make a decision.”
The pipe immediately appeared, and in a small box there was a smoldering coal for the woman to light. Just as immediately, a box of sweet marshmallows appeared next to her. Muttering something to herself, the old woman fiddled with the cloth and ate marshmallows, taking a puff of tobacco in between. Suddenly the merchant, to his horror, noticed that she had stained the priceless material with sticky honey from her fingers, and even worse - she tilted the pipe, and a coal fell out and fell right on the fabric, and burned a hole in it.
- Ay! Brainless old woman! - the merchant lamented, - You ruined the fabric!
- Not at all. I'll just cut this piece off when I cut it and it'll be fine, plus it's all the same since I'm taking this fabric. How much did you say it costs?
“One hundred pounds,” he said, hoping to make a deal at fifty, but she paid without haggling and left the store.
When she left, the Devil lisped in her ear:
— I wouldn't call it upper class. Yes, you gave him a slight shock, but you overpaid him, and he considered you a stupid old woman. He's a bigger devil than you.
“Hold your tongue,” the old woman hissed, “and be patient, in the name of all that is holy.” Watch what I do.
Having said this, she began to question the people in the coffee shop where the merchant's house was located, and soon they found themselves near a large rich house. The old woman stood outside, chanting a prayer, and then knocked.
- Who is there and what do you need?
- Peace be with you, magnanimous one! - the old woman shouted out the window. - Know that I am just a poor woman from the village, I came to visit my son. The time has come for my special prayer, and it finds me here on the street, where I cannot find a quiet, clean place to say it.
The merchant's wife let the pious woman in and led her into a spacious, quiet hall.
“Good woman,” the old woman croaked, “do me one more small favor, I need a prayer rug, kneel.”
The woman looked around and, not finding the rug, brought the sajjadd from her husband’s room.
The old woman pretended to say a prayer, while the merchant's wife walked away so as not to disturb her. Then she rolled up the rug, putting the cloth she had just bought inside, and returned it to her wife, with a thousand words and gestures of gratitude. When she left the threshold, the Devil asked in surprise what kind of performance it was, but received the same answer as before.
When the merchant returned home in the evening and took his prayer rug, the same piece of material fell out. It had the same traces of honey and a hole burned by coal. He immediately remembered that the material was intended for the wife of a rich man, who would agree in exchange for him...
His own wife! The merchant was torn to pieces with anger. In front of the invisible Devil, he threw his wife out of the house, not wanting to listen to any explanations.
- This is more like my job! - The Devil smiled.
The old woman followed her wife and found out that she went straight to her cousin’s house, where she threw herself on the bed and sobbed, not wanting to explain anything to anyone.
The old woman spent the next morning with her grandson, a lustful youth who was no better than one might expect.
“Come with me, my precious, I will introduce you to a beautiful, and intelligent, and most importantly, a lonely woman who needs consolation.”
She took her grandson to the house where the merchant's wife was and, taking advantage of her condition, arranged it so that the two ended up in the same room, where they sat, looking at each other, as if hypnotized by the old woman.
Then the old witch hurried to the merchant again. As soon as he saw her, he began to wail and began beating his chest with his fist:
- Oh, unfortunate one! You turned me into a tool for seducing my own wife, your devilish, bastard offspring! Have you come back to torment me? Get out before I kill you! - and everything in the same spirit.
The old woman waited until the merchant came to his senses a little, and answered:
- O Sultan of all merchants! I don't understand the meaning of your words. I just came to ask you to return that piece of silk that I forgot in your house. However, no one seems to be home.
The devil could hardly contain his laughter.
- What? - the merchant shouted. “Are you saying that the silk was not intended for my wife?”
- Of course not. All that happened was that I went into your house to pray and carelessly left my clothes in it.
Beside himself from the remnants of his anger, from bitterness and annoyance at the injustice committed, the merchant said:
- Oh, if I could take it all back!
- Well, in general, I could help you.
“If you return my beloved wife to me, I will pay you a thousand gold pieces!”
- Good! - the old hag creaked and rushed away.
“Don’t tell me that you’re going to do a good deed,” the Devil whispered.
- Get out of the way, fool! Don't stop the master from doing his job!
The devil could barely keep up with her as she rushed to the dungeon where the merchant's wife and her grandson were imprisoned. As soon as she saw the jailer, she began waving her arms and wailing:
“O noblest of the jailers in the whole kingdom!” Just think how I, at my advanced age, suddenly found myself in trouble. But you, O kind and exemplary guardian, can help me out.
She handed him the gold one, and the guard looked at her with great interest.
-What do you want? - he said harshly.
- Just to enter for a few tiny seconds to visit your grandson, who was (of course rightly) imprisoned in your hospitable prison, oh brave guardian of the law!
- Well, if you have another coin similar to the first, perhaps something will work out.
Quickly, like a flash of lightning, the sister of that coin appeared, and the old woman was inside. She ran into the cell where the guilty couple was being held and unlocked the door.
- Quickly take off your clothes and put on mine. Return to your husband if you want to reward me for your release and his forgiveness.
“I have a thousand gold pieces at home, is that enough?” - the woman screamed in despair.
- It will do. But look, keep your word, otherwise I will tell the merchant that there really was something between you!
And the wife rushed home to her husband, leaving the old woman in prison.
According to the law of that country, it was on this evening that a tour of all the cells was to take place, checking whether the punishment of those held there was fair. The inspector approached the camera and asked:
- Why are these here?
- Guilty of violating the norms of public morality! - the judge reported.
The old hag took off her veil and whined:
- Noble judge! I am ninety years old, and this is my grandson, who is barely sixteen! Here are the papers that testify to this. We sat and talked peacefully with him, while some scoundrel misled the guards and brought this absurd suspicion upon us. I ask you, noble sir, order us to be released immediately, for we have already suffered enough!
The judge turned in anger to the jailer and the chief of the guard:
“This is how we administer justice!” Release the respectable lady and her charming grandson immediately! The jailer and the chief of the guard - ten sticks each!
On the way from prison, the Devil joined them.
- I'll pass! - said the enemy of the human race. - I can’t repeat this! - and, spreading his wings, flew back to Jehennem.
That's why you won't find any devilry in Amman, unless that old woman puts her hand in again.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru