“He stood thunderstruck.
“It had come to pass, while he was fighting and putting to flight the enemies of the Lord, that the plague had entered his cabin, and cut off all his children, and the lightning had struck it and burned it down, and the wolves had eaten his cattle. Then his neighbours seized upon his lands, the corn had perished by drought, the rest of the crops by hailstorms: and naught remained to him.
“Down he dropped on the threshold, ghastly as one dead. But when evening fell, and the bell rang for the Angelus, he started up, and began to curse and blaspheme in an awful voice!
“ ‘Had he shed his blood in God’s service for this? for this defended God’s churches?’
“In vain his wife tried to calm him; in vain she fell at his feet and entreated him: he continued to curse and blaspheme.
“ ‘What! had he suffered wounds, and hunger, and been honest and pious for this? No matter what he had been, the Lord God had forsaken him, and decreed he should lose all!’
“Most foully did he curse the name of God, and cry that now he would give himself to Satan, who alone did not forsake the wretches that call upon him.
“At those words, behold, Satan appeared before him!
“The Hawk, being very wroth, was now reckless, and cried out:
“ ‘O devil, if you can help me, do; for I have been dealt with most grievously!’
“Fool that he was, and unable to understand that this was all but a trial, whereby our Lord would prove him!
“ ‘I will aid you,’ Satan hissed; ‘but will you give up your soul to me?’
“ ‘I will—this instant!’
“So a compact was written, and signed with Casimir’s blood.
“From that day forth, all things began to mend. He himself did but little, only ordering and overseeing things. Michalek (for so the devil chose to be called) worked for him, helped by other devils, disguised as farm-servants or as Germans; and in a short time the farm was in better order, larger and more flourishing than it ever had been.
“Only there came no more children to them. For how, indeed, could they come to a home so unblessed as that?
“This mortified the Hawk exceedingly. Also by night he was wrung at the thought how he should support the everlasting fire of hell.
“But Michalek took upon him to say that all rich folk—lords, kings, men of learning, yea, and even such bishops as were mighty on earth—had sold their souls to him. And yet none of them cared for what might come to them after death, and thought only of making merry and tasting all the pleasures of this life to the full.
“Then was Casimir more at ease, and he became a yet greater foe to God. With his own hands, he hewed down the cross by the forest; he cast the holy images out of his cabin, and would even have removed the statue of Our Lady of Chenstohova, because it was in his way when he ploughed. Hardly could his wife, with many prayers and tears and entreaties, prevail upon him to let it remain.
“The years flew by, like a rapid river. His wealth increased enormously, and his importance along with it; so that the King himself came to see the man, invited him to Court, and gave him the post of chamberlain there.
“Now was he puffed up, and looked down upon all, oppressed the poor, threw honesty to the winds, and cared no whit for anyone in the world.
“He also most foolishly closed his mind against the thought that he must one day pay dearly for all this.
“But at last the hour of reckoning arrived.
“Our Lord’s patience and mercy towards that hardened sinner came to an end at last.
“And his doom and punishment swooped down upon him.
“First, he was assailed by sore diseases, which tortured him unceasingly.
“Then the plague swept away all his castle.
“Next, his farm-buildings were struck by lightning and burned to the ground.
“After which, his corn crops were ruined by hailstorms.
“Then such terrible droughts came that everything was withered up and, being dry, burned to ashes; the very ground was cracked and fissured, and his trees died for lack of water.
“All men abandoned him, and Want sat down at his threshold.
“He was exceeding sick, and his flesh fell from off his bones, which began to rot.
“He called for Michalek and his fellow-demons to help him; but without avail. When the hand of the Lord is lifted up in anger against any man, Satan can do nothing.
“Instead of trying to aid him, the fiends, who were sure that he was already theirs, blew fire into his horrible wounds to make them rankle yet more.
“And now, nothing could save him but God’s mercy.
“Late in the autumn, there came so windy a night that the gale tore off the roof of the cabin, and all the doors and windows; and with it there entered a troop of fiends that fell to dancing as they pressed forwards with pitchforks to the middle of the room, where the Hawk lay dying.
“His wife did what she could to protect him. Thrusting a holy image in front of him, and chalking the sign of the cross on the door and windows, she drove them out; but she was most anxious lest he should die unreconciled to God, and without the last sacraments. So, although he had forbidden her, being hardened even at this last hour, and though Satan sought to turn her back, she found an opportunity, and slipped away to where the parish priest lived.
“But he was just driving out, and did not care to attend so wicked a man.
“ ‘God has abandoned him: he needs
