Once a pious Christian lived in a village near a deep forest. There was a nearby village of people who were superstitious. They worshiped a tree which they believed embodied a holy spirit capable of blessing or cursing them. To appease the spirit of the tree, the people made regular offerings to the tree of meat, wine, cloth, and other things. After the offerings were made, the remains were distributed to the poor. This practice attracted many people and the tree shrine became very popular.

The pious man decided one day to cut down the tree that was attracting so many superstitious people. He became convinced that God would be pleased if he showed the pagans that their idol was merely a tree and nothing more. He would use the tree as firewood to further demonstrate the tree’s lack of holiness.

One day the pious man woke up very early, took his sharp axe and began to walk toward the tree shrine determined to cut it down. As he neared the tree, a strange looking man crossed his path and asked,

“Good morning sir, are you carrying an axe to cut down the holy tree?”

The pious man was surprised by the stranger’s knowing question. He said,

“I am going to cut down that tree to please God. I will show the ignorant people that their worship of the tree is superstitious. There is no spirit in the tree. It is all a fantasy.”

The stranger said, “No, you cannot cut the tree down.”

“Who are you to tell me I cannot cut the tree down? I am going to chop it down to please God. I will teach those ignorant people that their worship is inspired by the Devil and not pleasing to God,” said the pious man.

The stranger replied, “I am the Devil. I will not let you cut the tree down>!”

“You cannot stop me,” said the Christian. In the name of God Almighty, His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit, I will kill you.” He knocked the Devil down and raised his axe to chop his head off.

The Devil cautioned the Christian that he could not kill him because God had given him duration of life until the Judgment Day. He said,

“I have the power to lead people astray from God’s path.”

The Devil continued, “I can see you are a sincere believer, a man of honor who wants to help the people follow the right path. I know you earn a modest living and have a large family to feed. You should also consider that the ignorant villagers will become very upset when cut down the tree and they will probably gang up on you and kill you. What will happen to your family? Think carefully before you commit a rash act that will harm you and your family. Perhaps I can help make your life easier so you can do more to help people without endangering your life and family.”

Why do you want to help me? You are the Devil. You will trick me and take me away from God’s work. You have been cheating and deceiving people since the beginning of time.” said the pious man.

“God has given me power only to deceive the ignorant, not the true believers like yourself. In fact, I am a servant of God like yourself. When I see a person desiring to serve God sincerely, I want to help them do the good work. Think of your wife and children and how much they need you. I am ready to help you help others in a way that will also protect your family. I will place two gold coins under your pillow so that every morning, when you awaken, you will find them. Use these precious coins to feed your family and educate your children. There will be enough left over to help the poor so that they can also become believers like yourself,” said the Devil.

“No, no, you are the Devil, the master of deceit, lies and mischief. How can I trust you to keep a promise,” said the pious man.

The Devil replied, “I will not cheat such a pious man as yourself. You cannot losed anything by believing me. If I do cheat you, you will know right away because I promise you will find two gold coin under your pillow everyday. If this does not happen, you can go cut down the tree whenever you want.”

The pious man accepted the logic of the Devil’s words. He gave up his mission of cutting down he tree and returned home. The next morning, he awoke and was pleasantly surprised to find two new gold coins under his pillow. He informed his wife that they would be happy and prosperous the rest of their lives. He said,

“I met the Devil yesterday. He promised to give me two gold coins everyday so that we can live comfortably and also help the poor. He has kept his promise because this morning I found these two gold coins under my pillow.”

His wife was perplexed. She said,

“The Devil is evil. He will not help you serve God.”

“I also thought the same way. But, after meeting him, I was impressed by his sensible words and sincere concern for my well being and that of our family. Let us spend these gold coins for our family and the poor. If he does not supply the gold coins, I will never believe him again and proceed with God’s work anyway,” said the pious husband.

That day, they purchased every thing they needed to eat well and shared their new found opulence with their friends and the poor. Early the next day, the pious man looked under his pillow, but there were no gold coins. He searched everywhere in vain thinking perhaps the Devil might have placed the coins somewhere else.

“The rogue has cheated me,” he said.

The pious man grabbed his axe and hurried to chop down the tree, the Devil’s false idol, as well as chop off the Devil’s head. He was so angry that the Devil did not keep his promise to supply the two gold coins.

The Devil appeared before the pious man and blocked his path. He said,

“Where are you going?”

“I should never have believed your lying words. I will chop your head off and that false idol of a tree,” said the irate man.

The Devil opened his eyes wide and made a face of horror. He exhaled a foul breathe that pushed the pious man backwards and knocked him down with a fury. He said,

“You dare to threaten me! I will kill you now as you wanted to kill me.”

“No, please don’t. Spare me for the sake of my family. Please tell me. How is it that I was able to knock you down so easily and seemingly was capable of killing you so easily. But now, I feel so helpless and weak?”

The Devil said with a wicked smile,

“Two days ago, you were going to cut the tree down to serve God with no other motive than to please him. You were ready to kill me, too. Today, however, you were so angry and ready to kill me and cut the tree down because you didn’t receive two gold coins from me.”