The Soldier and the Devil

A soldier, discharged from long service with only a pittance of pay, meets a strange man who offers him wealth beyond measure in exchange for his service for seven years. The soldier, desperate, agrees. The man is the Devil. For seven years, the soldier lives in luxury, wanting for nothing. But as the end of his term approaches, he grows anxious. The Devil reveals the true price: the soldier's soul, to be claimed at the contract's end. The soldier, though he had foreseen this possibility at the contract's signing, had chosen not to think upon it, drowning his worry in pleasure. Now, with only days remaining, he seeks salvation. He encounters a wise hermit who advises him: "Plant a cross in the earth and do not leave it. When the Devil comes, stand within the cross's shadow." When the Devil arrives to claim his due, the soldier stands fast within the cross. The Devil, unable to pass the sacred boundary, rages and threatens but cannot touch him. At dawn, the contract becomes void, and the Devil departs in fury. Foresight—the ability to anticipate future consequences and act upon them in the present—would have saved the soldier from his desperate bargain. His failure of foresight nearly cost him his soul. Yet, granted a final chance through the hermit's counsel, he demonstrates true foresight by accepting divine protection. Foresight is the first defense against the Devil's temptations.