drawing his head out of the heap, uttered boldly: "Avaunt, thou wicked
spirit!"

But the stranger, who was no less a person than Master Urian, laughed at
them. "What's all this outcry about?" said he at length. "Is my offence
so heinous that you are all become like children? It is I that may
suffer from this business, not you. With my hundreds and thousands I
have not far to run to buy a score of souls. Of you I ask but one in
exchange for all my money. What are you picking at straws for? One
may plainly see you are a mere set of humbugs! For the good of the
commonwealth (which high-sounding name is often borrowed for all sorts
of purposes) many a prince would instantly conduct a whole army to be
butchered, and you refuse one single man for that purpose! Fie! I am
ashamed, O overwise counsellors, to hear you reason thus absurdly and
citizen-like. What, do you think to deprive yourselves of the kernel of
your people by granting my wish? Oh, no; there your wisdom is quite
at fault, for, depend on it, hypocrites are always the earliest church
birds."

By degrees, as the cunning fiend thus spoke, the magistrates took
courage and whispered in each other's ears: "What is the use of our
resisting? The grim lion will only show his teeth once. If we don't
assent, we shall infallibly be packed off ourselves. It is better,
therefore, to quiet him directly."

Scarcely had they given effect to this new disposition and concluded
the bargain when a swarm of purses flew into the room through doors and
windows. Urian now took leave, but he stopped at the door and called out
with a grim leer: "Count it over again for fear I may have cheated you."

The hellish gold was piously expended in finishing the cathedral, but
nevertheless, when the building was completed, splendid though it was,
the whole town was filled with fear and alarm at the sight of it. The
fact was that, although the magistrates had promised by bond and oath
not to trust the secret to anybody, one had prated to his wife, and she
had made it a market-place tale, so that one and all declared they would
never set foot within the walls. The terrified council now consulted the
clergy, but the good priests hung their heads. At last a monk cried
out: "A thought strikes me. The wolf which has so long ravaged the
neighbourhood of our town was this morning caught alive. This will be a
well-merited punishment for the destroyer of our flocks; let him be cast
to the devil in the