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An old devil saw that life in the human world was too happy, and he said: “We need to go stir things up a bit, otherwise devils will cease to exist.” He first sent a little devil to disrupt a farmer, because he saw that the farmer worked hard every day, yet got pitifully little in return, and still remained so happy and content. The little devil began to think, how could he make the farmer turn bad? So he made the farmer’s field very hard, hoping the farmer would shrink back from the difficulty. The farmer hammered away for a long time, working with great hardship, but he only rested a bit and then kept on without a single complaint. Seeing his plan fail, the little devil could only touch his nose and go back. The old devil then sent a second one. The second little devil thought, since making him suffer even more is no use, then let’s take away what he has! So the little devil stole his lunch bread and water. He thought, the farmer is working so hard, tired and hungry, and now even his bread and water are gone—this time he’ll definitely fly into a rage! Thirsty and hungry, the farmer went to rest under a tree, and to his surprise his bread and water were gone! “I wonder which pitiful person needed that bread and water more than I do? If those things can fill his stomach and warm him from hunger, then that would be good.” Failed again, the little devil fled in defeat. The old devil found it strange. Was there really no way to make this farmer turn bad? At that moment a third little devil stepped forward and said to the old devil: “I have a way. I can definitely make him turn bad.” The little devil first went to make friends with the farmer, and the farmer happily became friends with him. Because the devil had the power of foresight, he told the farmer that there would be a drought the next year, and taught him to plant rice in wet lowland, so the farmer did as he said. As a result, the next year everyone else had no harvest, while only the farmer had a harvest filling every pit and valley, and so he became prosperous. Then every year the devil told the farmer what would be suitable to plant that year, and after three years the farmer became very rich. He also taught the farmer to brew wine from rice and sell it, earning even more money. Little by little, the farmer stopped working; just by relying on this kind of business trade, he could obtain large amounts of money. One day, the old devil came, and the little devil said to him: “Look! Now I’m going to show my results. This farmer already has pig’s blood in him.” Sure enough, the farmer had put on a dinner banquet, and all the rich people came to attend; they drank the best wine, ate the finest food, and had many servants waiting on them. They ate and drank very wastefully, their clothes in disarray, drunk out of their senses, and began to become stupidly fat and foolish like pigs. “You will also see that he has wolf’s blood in him,” the little devil said again. At that moment, a servant came out carrying grape wine and accidentally stumbled. The farmer began to scold him: “How can you be so careless in your work!” “Ah, master, we still haven’t eaten up to now. We’re so hungry our whole bodies are weak.” “How can you eat before the work is finished!” When the old devil saw this, he happily said to the little devil: “Ah! You’re incredible! How did you manage it?”
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