The Devil's Storybook by Natalie Babbitt
"The Devil's Storybook" by Natalie Babbitt is a collection of ten literary folktales that feature the Devil as a comical yet inept character. Each tale presents different situations where the Devil attempts to exert his influence and tempt innocent humans, ultimately highlighting themes of good versus evil. The stories are crafted with humor, making them accessible and engaging for younger audiences while also prompting deeper reflection on moral strength and the nature of temptation.
Among the narratives are "Wishes," where the Devil is outsmarted by a farm wife and an old man who resist his offers, and "The Very Pretty Lady," which showcases a woman's choice to reject the Devil’s deal for beauty in favor of love. Other tales like "The Imp in the Basket" and "Nuts" explore the complexities of sacrifice and the unexpected resilience of human goodness in the face of evil.
Babbitt’s storytelling employs whimsical elements while encouraging readers to contemplate their own responses to the challenges posed by malevolent forces. Overall, "The Devil's Storybook" serves as a thought-provoking journey through folklore that balances entertainment with moral inquiry, making it a unique addition to the genre.
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Subject Terms
The Devil's Storybook by Natalie Babbitt
First published: 1974
Subjects: Emotions, religion, social issues, and the supernatural
Type of work: Short fiction
Recommended Ages: 13-15
Form and Content
The Devil’s Storybook collects ten literary folktales, each of which depicts the Devil as a bungling, humorous figure. Although the characters, plot, and context of each of the tales differ, the tension usually resides in the various situations that provoke the Devil to exercise his evil power and tempt innocent humans. Young audiences will appreciate the juxtaposition of the humorous, folktale format and the stories’ thematic concerns, which explore the strength of goodness and humankind’s struggle to overcome pure evil at its very source. A brief synopsis of each of the tales emphasizes their individual plot characteristics while placing them within the larger context of a unified whole.
In “Wishes,” the Devil tempts a farm wife, an old man, and a vain young man with the promise of a wish, an event that he hopes will lead to their moral destruction. Both the old man and the wife possess an inner strength and refuse the Devil’s offer. The Devil tricks the young man into wasting his wishes, however, and then returns to Hell, happily aware that humans are easy prey.
“The Very Pretty Lady” relates the story of a beautiful woman whom the Devil determines to have for himself. When she learns that there is no love in Hell, she refuses his offer. In a fit of anger, he takes her beauty and returns to Hell with its fragments. Years later, the Devil returns to find the now-ugly woman, her ugly husband, and their ugly baby in a house filled with love. He angrily throws away her beauty; it floats toward heaven to become a star.
In “The Harps of Heaven,” the Devil sends accomplished thieves Jack and Basil to steal a heavenly harp. The brothers’ incessant fighting leads to their breaking the harp, and the Devil never fully realizes his goal. As punishment, the Devil makes Jack and Basil take lessons from an unpleasant piano teacher, but they learn only scales.
“The Imp in the Basket” examines the sacrifices of a gentle clergyman who adopts a demon baby that has been left at his door. When the community becomes fearful of the imp’s evil connections, they set fire to the cottage while the clergyman and baby are inside. When the flames clear, the demon has disappeared, but the clergyman is unharmed. Everyone pronounces the event as a miracle, but the clergyman remains uncertain if it was God that saved him, or the Devil.
Babbitt explores the Devil’s inability to entice humans to his service in “Nuts.” The Devil devises a scheme to trick an unsuspecting woman into cracking all his walnuts for him. Certain that he can appeal to the woman’s innate human greed, he places a perfect pearl in a walnut and asks her to crack it for him. He expects her to find the pearl, keep it for herself, and crack the rest of the nuts in search of more treasure. Much to his disappointment, she hides the pearl under her tongue, says nothing, and leaves.
“A Palindrome,” as the title implies, focuses on the disharmony that results when the Devil inverts an artist’s life and work. The kind artist paints such devilish scenes that the Devil steals all the man’s artwork to hang in Hell. Baffled at the theft, the artist becomes the most morose man in his village. Delighted to have caused such mischief, the Devil soon encounters a major disappointment: The unpleasant artist begins to sculpt heavenly creations. Although his paintings hang in Hell, his statues are admired in Heaven, and the palindrome is complete.
“Ashes” depicts Mr. Beezle’s confusion, which results when he arrives in Hell after his cremation to find that a pig has suddenly become his doting companion. He confronts the Devil, who suggests that he go back to Earth to solve the mystery. Beezle learns that a careless housemaid knocked his ashes into the hearth, where they became mixed with the ashes of a pork bone. He works diligently to separate his ashes from the pig’s, and, as he continues the tedious process, the pig becomes less attentive. About this time, the housemaid arrives in Hell and tidies Beezle’s messy ashes, mixing them again. The pig returns, and Beezle teaches him to play cards.
The Devil dislikes perfect people, and, in “Perfection,” he encounters Angela, a perfect child. He determines to find her flaws. Nothing that he does works until he discovers the one thing that causes her to lose her temper frequently: Angela grows up to have a perfect husband, a perfect house, and a “fair-to-middling” child.
One minor demon in Hell tries to bring beauty into the dreariness there. “The Rose and the Minor Demon” demonstrates that even the Devil can be outsmarted if goodness exists. When a rose blooms in the garden, the minor demon tries unsuccessfully to protect it from the Devil’s wrath. After its destruction, he finds happiness in a flower pictured on a vase. After the Devil orders the vase destroyed, the minor demon rescues a fragment and hides it. It provides him secret happiness in Hell’s dismal setting.
In “Power of Speech,” the Devil yearns for a wise old woman’s prize goat, Walpurgis. When he gives Walpurgis the power of speech, the goat becomes so belligerent, cantankerous, and gregarious that the woman removes his protective bell and sends him to the Devil. The Devil turns him into a stuffed goat and returns him to the woman. She realizes that his fate comes from his refusal to stop talking.
Critical Context
The Devil’s Storybook returns the literary folktale to its traditional arena of storytelling appropriate for older audiences. Even though the Devil portrayed in this work cannot be taken seriously, his capacity to create chaos arbitrarily in human activity and to drive innocent victims to the brink lies quietly in the framework of each of the tales. Couched in a humorous context and peopled with stock characters, the ten tales coalesce to form an intricate whole that articulates the fact that evil lurks in the most unexpected places. This excursion into the literary folktale affords Natalie Babbitt with the opportunity to continue her exploration of the supernatural. The Devil’s Storybook demands more of its audience than do such light fantasy titles as Babbitt’s Tuck Everlasting (1975) and The Eyes of Amaryllis (1977). The Devil’s Storybook and its sequel, The Devil’s Other Storybook (1987), rely on a nonthreatening version of the Devil and the simple folktale form to make readers ponder their own ability and endurance to withstand the guile of evil in its most primary forms.