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Amerirule exceptionalism (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Not to be that guy, but there's at least one Grimm's fairy tale where a peasant tricks the devil.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Sometimes with really lame tricks - "fill my boot with gold in exchange for my soul" (cuts sole out of boot)

[–] [email protected] 16 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Probably every single European bridge called "Devil's Bridge" has a story about how he was tricked into making it in one single night and then denied his prize because

they made a rooster sing before dawn because the contract specified that as the deadline
they made an animal cross the bridge first because the first soul was to be taken per contract
they bully him into giving it up with some divine intercession.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 4 months ago (1 children)

To be fair, the song isnt about tricking the devil and using one's wits to overcome terrible odds or such like that, this random guy is just that good that he can just enter into a contest with a supernatural power and win it honestly. Id bet stories like that exist in other cultures, surely, but still probably arent as common as ones where the human must resort to tricks or suffers for hubris. Then again, the song also suggests the devil hasnt been too successful lately, so maybe this version of the character just isnt terribly powerful in the first place.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago

There's a Buddhist story, about an old monk teaching a young one.

The young one, goes outside and the old one is chopping wood. The old monk tells how amazing he is at it The young one immediately asks why are you bragging? It's against the teachings.

The old monk replied, I'm not and proceeds to perfectly split five pieces. Describing your skill actually is not bragging is the moral. Or something like that