The first thought of
the newborn Caliban was to fall foul of his mother, whom he scratched
and bepommelled soundly, and then flew through the window out into the
village, where he played the mischief generally. Little children he
devoured, maidens he abused, young men he mauled and battered; and it
was many days before a holy man succeeded in repeating the enchantment
of Prospero. At length, however, Leeds's devil was laid,--but only for
one hundred years.
"During an entire century, the memory of that awful monster was
preserved, and, as 1835 drew nigh, the denizens of Burlington and the
Pines looked tremblingly for his rising. Strange to say, however, no one
but Hannah Butler has had a personal interview with the fiend; though,
since 1835, he has frequently been heard howling and screaming in the
forest at night, to the terror of the Rats in their lonely encampments.
Hannah Butler saw the devil, one stormy night, long ago; though some
skeptical individuals affirm, that very possibly she may have been led,
under the influence of liquid Jersey lightning, to invest a pine-stump,
or, possibly, a belated bear, with diabolical attributes and a Satanic
voice.
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