277- Satan and his Friends

In December 1970, I was given an American magazine that had a cover featuring a man dressed like the devil performing a satanic wedding ceremony. Seeing that magazine saddened me a lot. After a few years, one of the believers said to me, “I asked a coworker about the reason behind his faith in the devil. The coworker replied that whenever he asked God for something, He would not give it to him. But when he asks the devil for things, they are given to him right away. So why not follow Satan?”

Also, in Los Angeles, there was a television program about devil worship. There was an American lady who was asked what she did with her baby. She said that she gave it as a human sacrifice to the devil and she skinned it and ate it with her friends. This is what happens to a person in the most advanced country in the world, when they surrender themselves to the devil.

All of these examples remind me of the following story:

While on a desert trip, a man found a skull with the following phrase written on it:

“Keep me and you will live in peace.”

The man, wanting money not peace, mockingly kicked the skull. A piece of candy fell from it, which he put in his pocket. At the end of the trip, he gave his clothes to his eldest daughter to wash. She found the piece of candy, ate it and became pregnant. When she told her father the truth, he thought that she was lying and that she had the baby in sin. He wanted to kill her but she gave birth to a beautiful child who stood up and started talking to them. They realized that he was the devil and they feared him. However, instead of praying to God to get rid of the child, the father sold him to his brother. His reasoning was that to be the devil, it had great powers and would work in his brother’s fields without being known.

The child worked hard and the crops increased. The brother knew the child to be the devil and he feared he might kill him and his family. He wanted to get rid of him but at a high price. While the child and the man were working in the fields, a minister passed by and the child said to the minister,

“Minister, don’t fear for the gold in your right pocket and the pearls in your left pocket.”

“Who told you I had gold and pearls?”

 “I can tell you where you’re going and what you’re doing.”

“Tell me, then.”

 The devil answered, “You’re on your way to the royal palace to decorate its doors with gold and pearls but your work will be ruined because of the envy of the king’s men.”

 “What can I do to decorate the palace doors and please the king?”

 “It’s very simple: kill two birds; put each in a golden urn; then, put each urn in seven silver urns; and bury each of them on the right and on the left of the palace entrance.”

The minister told the landowner (the brother) about how wise the young child was and that he never saw anybody like him. Then he said he would acquire him for any price so he can help at the palace. The minister bought the child, followed his advice and, as a result, the king was very pleased and gave the minister power over all the palaces. The minister consulted the child about everything. The minister met his daughter and said to her,

“We became very wealthy because of that child but I know that if the king found out the truth about the child, he would want to have him for himself and I’d be turned away. Can you kill the child, give it to me to eat and also bring his bones?”

The daughter agreed, hid a knife and went to kill the child but the child said to her, “Why would you want to kill an innocent child? What did I ever do to you?”

The daughter got very disturbed and said, “What shall I do to please my father?”

The child replied, “I’ll kill a child, give it to you to cook for your father and I’ll disappear.”

The girl agreed and cooked the child for her father who was happy to being wealthy and getting rid of the child devil.

In the morning, the king called upon the minister to tell him about three dreams he had the prior night. In those dreams, 40 crows are flying and picking at him. He asked the minister to call all the wise men to explain the dreams within three days, or else all their heads would be cut off. The minister went home troubled and was telling himself that if the child was alive, he could explain those dreams. Suddenly, the child devil appeared and told him the truth about not being killed. The scared minister asked the child to explain the dreams and the child said that he would explain the dreams to the king in person.

The child was taken to the surprised king and the child told the king, “Those dreams concern you, your father and your grandfather. Your grandfather loved to hunt and had an eagle that was very dear to him, which was also a very good hunter. On one of his hunting trips, your grandfather became very thirsty. He noticed water drops coming out from a rock so he brought a cup to collect the drops but every time the cup was almost full, the eagle would jump on it and let all the waterfall out. This was repeated three times and finally the cup fell into a hole. Your grandfather was so upset to the extent that he killed the eagle and then went to get more water. He was surprised to see a venomous viper spouting venom into the water. He realized that the eagle was trying to save him. Then, he took the eagle’s body, put it in a golden urn, which he put in seven silver urns and buried it at the right side of the palace entrance. If you dig there, you’ll find the eagle’s bones.”

The king dug there and found the bones as the child said.

“The second dream is about your father who was at a huge banquet with other kings. Every king was bragging about the amazing things he possessed. Your father said that he had an amazing bird, which was with him all the time. Then, he asked the bird to fetch something of value but the bird brought back just a straw. Everybody laughed so your father got upset and killed the bird. Then, the straw fell and became an apple tree that everybody ate from. Your father, saddened about the bird’s death, took it, put it in a golden urn, which he put in seven silver urns and buried it at the left side of the palace entrance.”

The king dug up the urns and was surprised that the child knew all these things.

Then the child said, “The third dream is about you, for the forty crows are thirty-nine men who sinned with your wife, the queen, and the fortieth crow is the one who knows the secret.” The king believed the child and ordered the thirty-nine men killed at once. The child brought the men to the king and they included people who had owned the child in order to get wealthy. Then, the child asked for mercy for the fortieth person who knew about what the men did with the queen but the king insisted on killing that man and that is when the child said, “I’m that fortieth man.”

→ English translation of the story here at St-Takla.org: الشيطان وأصدقاؤه.

God, there is no friend to the enemy of good.

He is a fighter and killer, even of his friends.

His nature is destruction even when he gives many gifts.

He is a liar and a cheater, even when he tells the future.

A Woman beneath the Stones

Short Stories (Stories for the Youth) Books by Father Tadros Yacoub Malaty

The Tenth Man