Brother Jim has all the devils from the haunted hotel in his magic knapsack. What’s he going to do with them?

The travel lodge owner and the businesswoman who owned the hotel showed up in the morning to see what had become of me. When they found me well and in good spirits they were amazed and asked, “Didn’t the ghosts bother you?”

“Not at all,” I answered. “I’ve got all nine of them inside my knapsack. You can come back and reopen your hotel. Nobody is going to haunt it any longer..”

The businesswoman thanked me and gave me many presents. She begged me to remain in her service as a “ghostbuster” and promised to provide for me as long as I lived. (I think she took a shine to me!)

“No,” I answered. “I’m used to wandering and need to be on the move.”

So I went on my way, and came upon some carpenters building a house. I laid the knapsack with the nine devils inside it on the ground, and asked two carpenters to hammer the bag. They raised their hammers and started banging away.

The devils screeched piteously. When I opened the knapsack later, eight of them were dead. But one had sat in a fold and was still alive. He slipped out and fled back to hell.

Monday: The Wide and Narrow Roads

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The Adventures of Brother Jim based on the story “Brother Gaily” from The Juniper Tree and Other Tales from Grimm.