Explores the many forms and abilities of the devil in stories from
around the world
- Draws on folk traditions from all over Europe, including
Transylvanian Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Switzerland, Italy, France,
Scandinavia, and the Baltic countries
- Traces the devil's shapeshifting powers back to their Vedic origins
in ancient India and looks at his connections with witches and storm
magic
- Reveals how many of the qualities and magical powers attributed to
the devil were once those belonging to pagan gods
The devil has many more guises than the cliché red boogeyman named
Lucifer or Satan who haunts Christianity. In some traditions the devil
is sinister and cunning, while others portray him as an oaf who can
easily be conned and evaded by anyone with an ounce of cleverness. In
other tales and legends, he is the primal shapeshifter, and the Roma,
also known as the gypsies, claimed his talents of metamorphosis were so
strong he could even assume the appearance of a priest.
Drawing on folk traditions from all over Europe, including Transylvanian
Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Switzerland, Italy, France, Scandinavia,
Moravia, Bohemia, Lapland, and the Baltic countries, Claude and Corinne
Lecouteux explore the many forms and abilities of the devil in stories,
tales, and legends throughout the ages. They trace the devil's
shapeshifting powers back to their Vedic origins in ancient India and
look at his connections with witches, storm magic, and other magical
events. They examine the symbolic implications of the appearance of the
devil in these tales, such as how he is often either limping or
disfigured with the legs or feet of a goat or other animal traditionally
linked to the lower powers or passions. They explain how the devil's
limp or his goat-like feet reflect the prevalence in world mythology of
the sacred nature of crippling injuries.
Peeling back the Christian veneer embedded in many tales and legends
about the so-called Evil One, the authors ultimately reveal how many of
the qualities and magical powers attributed to the devil were once those
belonging to pagan gods, like the Lithuanian thunder god Perkūnas or the
Titan Chronos, as well as to playful woodland spirits and the sometimes
helpful, sometimes fearful fauns and satyrs of Greco-Roman mythology.
