The Devil is one of two main
characters in my newly released short story, “Devil in the Details” in the anthology, Harboring Secrets. The protagonist
for ages against God and his angels, he has been known as Lucifer, a fallen
angel, Satan, the Great Horned God, Mammon, dragon, Father of Lies, Abaddon,
Accuser, Apollyon, Cloven Hoof, Beast, Beelzebub, and Belial, to even name more names. The Devil is believed in many religions,
myths and cultures to be a supernatural entity that is the personification of evil.
The nature of the role varies greatly, ranging from being an effective opposite
force to the creator god, locked in an eons long struggle for human souls on
what may seem even terms to being a comical figure of fun or an abstract aspect
of the individual human condition.
While mainstream Judaism contains no
overt concept of a devil, Christianity and Islam have variously regarded the
Devil as a rebellious fallen angel or demon that tempts humans to sin, if not
commit evil deeds himself. In these religions, the Devil has assumed more of a
dualistic status commonly associated with heretics, infidels, and other
unbelievers.
In mainstream Christianity, God and
the Devil are usually portrayed as fighting over the souls of humans, with the
Devil seeking to lure people away from God and into Hell. The Devil commands a
force of evil spirits, commonly known as demons. The Hebrew Bible (Old
Testament) describes the Adversary as an angel who instigates tests upon
humankind. Many other religions have a trickster or tempter figure that is
similar to the Devil. One of these is Loki in the Norse mythology.
In one legend from
Colonial America,
the lawyer Daniel Webster goes up against the Devil and wins. There’s even a
well know rock country song, 'Devil Down in Georgia,' where the fiddler in the
story out fiddles the Devil. Another is folklore about a real person in history,
Colonel Philip Lightfoot must danced against the Devil to save his land at what is known as Dancing Point today. The
legend says that the Devil caused the barrenness in the land and remarked that
it was his, not Lightfoot’s. Colonel Lightfoot agreed to a contest between the
two of them. They would see who was the best dancer and could last the longest,
with the land as the prize. They marched to Dancing Point at dusk and shed
their coats and tricorns. After building a large fire, both proceeded to dance
their hearts out. Around and around a tree stump they whirled. Lightfoot had
claims to being an accomplished dancer and he proved it that night. The Devil
didn’t give up, as he was determined to win, but when the first rays of dawn
painted the morning sky, the Devil knew he had lost. He limped away in
humiliation, crossing the James River to Surry County.
The old-timers report that he still lives there. This tale is in chapters in my
Haunted Virginia:
Legends, Myths and True Tales and Virginia's
Haunted Historic Triangle: Williamsburg,
Yorktown, Jamestown,
and Other Haunted Locations.
Another tale is about
the Blues singer Robert Johnson who is supposed to have met the Devil at a
crossroads in Mississippi, the Devil took his guitar off of him, tuned it,
played a few songs and gave it back, from then on Robert Johnson could play the
Blues better then anyone alive.
But most times, the
human doesn’t win and loses his/her soul. Just as what happens to my heroine in
“Devil in the Details.” Another such folklore where the mortal lost concerns a
girl rushing to a dance. Her mother forbids her to go, saying the preacher said
the dance was going to the devil. The girl goes anyway and ends up dancing with
this handsome young man. He whiles her around ad around until she vanishes. He
then bows to others at the dance and vanishes. The girl is winging her way to
Hell.
There is also one
from Devon England that in the 1800's a set of footprints in the shape of hoofs
appeared over night in the snow going for hundreds of miles appearing to go
straight over the roofs of houses and barns.
There are tons of
stories of the devil in southern folklore. One told of how the devil would hide
among goat herds in the form of a large billy goat. When a prospective sinner drew
near, the devil stood on his hind legs and follow him until the person came to
a crossroads. If the sinner would turn to confront the devil before he/she
reached the crossroads, the devil took his/her soul. If not, then the sinner
had best get to church as soon as possible and confesses his sins before he pass
those same crossroads again. In the French-Canadian folktales of the 19th
century argues that the legends involving the Devil can be categorized
according to a trinity of basic tale types. The first type is the “beautiful
dancer,” the second is the “builder of bridges and churches” and the final is
the “instigator of pacts.”
Devil be or not, one
should never sell their soul to strangers, for after all, the Devil is the
Prince of Lies after all.
Here is short excerpt from "Devil in the Details."
They
say the devil is in the details. Most especially when one sold their soul to
the Devil in a literal sense. Then life and death becomes extremely important.
I should have read that contract better
before I signed it in blood ten years ago.
Jenna
tossed back the glass of scotch she held. The amber liquid burned a path down
her throat to her stomach. The glass clinked loud as she set it down next to
the empty bottle. It toppled over and spilled the scotch across the table’s
surface.
A
giggle escaped her. Who gave a damn about a mess on one measly table? Or that
she never been so drunk in her life. Not with her soul in trouble. Hell put
things into perspective.
Buy Harboring Secrets in print at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million and at your local independent bookstore. It is also available on Kindle and as a Nookbook on BarnesandNoble.com.
