Not all tales about the Devil’s bride are so darkly, and strict in their portrayal of supernatural justice. In Slavic fairy tales sometimes the guilty woman who is condemned to be taken to hell shows a great deal of wit and cunning and manages to avoid her fate. She does this by seducing the devil who’s been sent to take her with him in a sack. See, the devil has weaknesses too… perhaps, he is vain and falls for her flattery, or he is lazy, or glutinous and cannot resist the miller woman’s great cooking. Whatever the case, he stays at the mill and forgets about taking her to hell altogether. The Devil’s Bride then turns him into her own familiar, using his supernatural forces to make her mill grind day and night regardless of the weather. So, the evil miller’s widow ends up getting richer, instead of going to hell.
This tale explains why the crooked ones will often escape justice for as long as they can align with the Devil himself, hell won’t take them. On the contrary, allegiance with the Dark Forces makes them beautiful, eloquent, and richer. But it’s a margin call – can you bet on your own wits if the Devil showed up at your doorstep, ready to take you?
Then there is a fairy tale which I believe is uniquely Czech, as my ancestral culture is basically matriarchal.
It’s a humorous tale about an old maid, and it’s been made into a famous operette. Katcha the old maid is so lustful for a man that she swears she would dance with the devil himself if only someone took her out to dance!
The Devil hears this and appears in his traditional Slavic costume, reminiscent of the Horned One, the dark lord of the woods and the wild hunt, dressed as a huntsman in a green barret. Katcha is taken aback! Finally, a tall dark stranger expressed interest in her! She likes him so much she swears, I want to dance with you forever.’
To which the huntsman replies, ‘That could as well happen if you follow me to my place.’ There are some suspicious horns peeking from beneath his barret, but she replies, ‘Take me wherever I’d follow you into hell even!’
And so he takes her to hell, revealing his true nature as they fly.
They enter the infernal gates, but something’s not right. Katcha is now holding onto her groom for dear life and won’t let go. Not even the infernal forces can separate them, because it is a free-will universe after all, and the devil has given her his word.
Lucifer tells him, ‘Don’t you know you fool that she had an agenda when she agreed to follow you anywhere, even this place? You should have scried her mind first! I will not save you from your plight.’
And so the devil is left to his overbearing wife.
This detail of Lucifer’s nature as the King of Hell is mirrored in many tales, where the Lesser Devils end up somehow outwitted by humans. For example, the devils get drunk and sign up for military service where they are subjected to harsh discipline.
Lucifer doesn’t rush in to save them.
He strips them of their rank and lets them suffer the consequences of their actions, and be ridiculed by humans.
Anybody who has worked with the Prince of Darkness can attest, that that is exactly how he is…
The old maid Katcha who won’t leave her husband in hell nor return among the living soon finds work for her idle hands. She starts up bossing the devils around her, changing their customs, their manners, and their clothes to human. Off with the horns, hide the tails, make them all into handsome lads in plaid!
When Lucifer comes back, he stares at the state of his Hell in dismay. It is then that he finally frees the soul-bound groom from Katcha, recognizing that certain unions are perhaps too unholy to be allowed to exist.
The lesson here is clear – be a boss bitch, so that even the Devil fears your plots. It also tells us that a word, once given, is not taken lightly by the Courts of Hell, and that all of us, infernals, humans, spirits abide by this universal law of promise keeping.
