24) “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving (as Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.)
Note: The story reviewed is about two hundred years old and contains some racially insensitive and misogynistic language.
Plot:
In 1727, “at the time when earthquakes were prevalent in New England and shook many tall sinners down upon their knees,” Tom Walker, a “miserly fellow,” takes a shortcut through a swamp outside of Boston that most people in his village avoid. The area has history. It was once an Indian fort. On one side of the swamp is a dark grove. On the other, the land rises with large, ancient oaks. Under one of the gigantic oaks, so the story goes, Captain Kidd buried his treasure.
Tom Walker is not bothered by the spot’s bad reputation and sits down to take a breather. He uses his walking stick to probe into a piece of black mold by his feet. The staff strikes something hard; it is a skull with a tomahawk in it.
He kicks it away.
“Let that skull alone!” says a gruff voice.
He sees a “great black man.” After some back and forth, the stranger introduces himself as the Black Woodsman, though he confesses to going by various names. He also points out to Tom that the great oaks around them have the names of “some great men of the colony” scored into them. Additionally, all bear ax marks.
The Black Woodsman offers to make Captain Kidd’s gold available to Tom—for a price…
Thoughts:
This story is one in a series revolving around the idea of “money-diggers.”
A lot of tongue-in-cheek humor is imbued into the tale.
The Black Woodsman/”Old Scratch” never spells out his conditions for revealing the whereabouts of Captain Kidd’s gold, but they “may easily be surmised.” “They must have been very hard, for [Tom] required time to think of them, and he was not a man to stick at trifles where money was in view.”
Old Scratch wants Tom to use some of his money to work a trade of his choosing. At first, he presses him toward “the black traffic,” that is, the slave trade, but Tom refuses. Hey, he has some principles.
The devil next presses him into becoming a moneylender:
“You shall lend at two percent a month.”
“Egad, I’ll charge four!”
The reader is told, “Thus Tom was the universal friend of the needy.”
Tom’s wife is described as a “tall termagant,” who is as miserly as he is. She gives the devil a run for the money. They have a horse, who would sometimes lean his head over the fence and looks “piteously at the passer-by, and seem[s] to petition deliverance from this land of famine.”
The theme of greed runs throughout the tale, but it also satirizes religious “great men.” The tree that Tom sits on bears the name of a recently deceased religious leader, an old buccaneer. The leader is mourned. Old Scratch refers to the tree as “ready for burning.”
The story seems light-hearted, but it also contains casual cruelty. And the bad guy gets his comeuppance.
It inspired such tales as Stephen Vincent Benét’s “The Devil and Daniel Webster” (1936) and Wilhelm Hauff’s “The Cold Heart” (1827). I can’t help but wonder if maybe it influenced, in a roundabout way, a Charlie Daniels song from a couple of years ago, but that’s a long shot.
In sum, the story has cute moments, but it is not a modern story. I enjoyed it, but again, it has its rough edges.
This story can be read and listened to here: (39:01)
Bio: Washington Irving (1783-1859) initially trained in law by apprenticing in a law office rather than studying at a university. From 1807 to 1808, Irving, his brother, and a friend published a satirical magazine, Salmagundi, in which they referred to New York City as “Gotham” or “goat town.” It was not a compliment, but the name stuck.
Later, he moved to England to take over a failing import-export business from his extended family. After it failed, he published The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., over 1819 and 1820. The Sketchbook contains thirty-four essays and short stories, including Irving’s best-known, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle.” These two are attributed to the fictional Dutch historian Diedrich Knickerbocker.
Irvine also served as a U.S. Ambassador to Spain and advocated for stronger copyright laws.
Title: “The Devil and Tom Walker”
Author: Washington Irving (1783-1859)
First published: Tales of a Traveler (collection), 1824
Length: short story
Series: The Money-Diggers #3
