The Devil as Monastery Cook

They grew angry in hell one day that the monks of this monastery lived so piously. So they sent one of their number to tempt them to evil — but how? By comfortable living. The devil got himself taken on as cook and cooked so savourily and set such good wine on the table that the brethren slowly grew used to gluttony and revelry. Then one midnight the abbot heard a strange voice in the kitchen; he stopped behind the door and overheard the devil cook telling another devil, who had come to see how his fellow from hell was getting on, that the monks' souls would soon be ripe for hell. The abbot was aghast and cursed the treacherous devil, who flew off at once — and the monastery took to strict penance. Another version, of course, runs thus: during the plague of 1680 in Prague the abbot fled and left the monks here unsupervised; he returned in November, and the monastery began to be haunted. In his absence the monks had given themselves up to revelry and wanted to frighten the abbot off — but he investigated the matter and punished the author of it, Father Karel, with imprisonment.