Deal with the Devil: Difference between revisions
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* In "[https://web.archive.org/web/20131020110357/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/armlessmaiden/index.html The Maiden Without Hands]", a miller makes a deal with the devil for "what is standing behind thy mill". He thought it was an apple tree; it was his daughter. She kept herself too pure for the devil to carry off, though, even when the devil orders the miller to cut off her hands. So the miller ended up with the money; but as soon as that happened, the daughter left to seek her fortune. Ironically enough, this may be a [[Bowdlerise]]d plot; the rest of the plot is commonly found in tales where the heroine lost her hands and left because her [[Parental Incest|father]] or [[Brother-Sister Incest|brother]] tried to force her to marry him.
* In "[https://web.archive.org/web/20131207045438/http://surlalunefairytales.com/bearskin/index.html Bearskin]", a soldier makes a Deal with the Devil, who will give him an ever-filled purse, but he must not pray, wash, cut his hair or nails, or change from a bearskin for seven years. He goes about distributing money to the poor, asking them to pray for him. One man he rescues from financial distress promises that he may marry one of his daughters. Only [[Youngest Child Wins|the youngest]] is willing. He succeeds in fulfilling the devil's terms and [[She Cleans Up Nicely|cleans up nicely]], and the older sisters, reduced to [[Green-Eyed Monster|envy]], commit suicide. The Devil, pleased at his dumb luck, informs the soldier that he got two souls, not one.
** Other variants of this type of fairy tale include "[https://web.archive.org/web/20140119234006/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/bearskin/stories/dongiovanni.html Don Giovanni de la Fortuna]", "[https://web.archive.org/web/20090319030931/http://www.gwu.edu/~folktale/GERM232/bearskin/web%20pages/SoldierandtheBadMan.html The Soldier and the Bad Man]", "[https://web.archive.org/web/20090319030926/http://www.gwu.edu/~folktale/GERM232/bearskin/web%20pages/RoadtoHell.html The Road to Hell]" (where she actively cleans him up), "[https://web.archive.org/web/20140117195302/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/bearskin/stories/rewardkindness.html The Reward of Kindness]", [http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0361.html#sutermeister "The Devil As Partner" and "Never Wash"].
* Another fairytale variant: "[[Rumpelstiltskin]]". Though considering the number of escape clauses in that deal, Rumpelstiltskin made a less-than-competent Mephistopheles.
* A Polish legend tells of the nobleman Twardowski who gained magical powers thanks to such a deal. The clause was that the devil would get Twardowski's soul when Twardowski goes to Rome. Twardowski gleefully stayed away from Italy. The devil eventually captured him when he wandered into a tavern called "Rome".
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