The Devil's Other Storybook

Rating:
Summary: Follow-up to _The Devil's Storybook_
Review: ...and like its predecessor, the author illustrated the front cover with the Devil sitting in a chair reading the book - except that on the floor beside him, this picture shows a copy of volume 1, as well as the copy of volume 2 open on his lap. :) He's still drawn in standard Mephistopheles mode, goatee, horns, tail, and all.

Both books are very short, and each story has a kind of moral, but Babbitt has a light touch. Every story has 1 illustration, usually for a scene in which the Devil is trying to stir up trouble in the world, tempting people to make wrong decisions - and quite often having his plans go wrong.

"The Fortunes of Madame Organza" The title has a nice double meaning: Madame Organza was a fortuneteller who wasn't very good at her work, since she could never invent any stories but the same 3: meeting a tall dark stranger, going on a long journey, and finding a pot of gold. She couldn't make a living at it, and took in washing on the side under her real name of Bessie. Then by coincidence, a milkmaid who'd just started working in the neighbourhood and didn't know any better happened 1) to spend some of her first paycheck at the fortuneteller's, 2) to get the 'pot of gold' fortune, and 3) to find some robbers' loot. The Devil, hearing about this, decided to have a little fun by making *all* Madame Organza's fortunes come true for awhile.

"Justice" One of the few times the Devil's been surprised was when a rhinoceros with a bullet-hole through one horn suddenly appeared in Hell, looking impatient. Later that same day, a hunter called Bangs backed into a boa constrictor and showed up at the Devil's front gate, to be promptly told to catch the rhino. But he's not too happy at finding out that since guns don't work down here, he's going to have to catch it with a net - and he suspects he's probably the one who made the bullet-hole.

"The Soldier" is between wars, and on meeting the Devil in disguise, happens to start boasting of all the battles and wars he's seen.

"Boating" starts off by pointing out that Hell has four nice rivers inside the walls, with the 5th, the Styx, running around the outside like a moat. On the day the story opens, Charon the ferryman has asked for help since an awful crowd of people suddenly showed up, so the Devil decides to pass a little time running a second ferry.

"How Akbar Went to Bethlehem" Why the Devil no longer tries to keep camels, although he likes nasty-tempered pets as a rule, and used to have one named Akbar.

"The Signpost" A pair of mismatched sweethearts, who really aren't well-suited, will only marry each other if one will go to the other within a week and agree not to quarrel anymore. Then the Devil thought it might be funny to mix up the signpost at the crossroads between Woolfield and Argo so that the arrows pointed the wrong way, not knowing anything about the quarrel.

"Lessons" Columbine, unlike parrots who grew up among pirates, learned a very different kind of language living in a parsonage, and it stands him in good stead when he sees the Devil walk by.

"The Fall and Rise of Bathbone" [My favorite out of both books.] One of the few stories in which Heaven appears. Bathbone isn't quite right in the head; for some reason, he thinks he's a famous opera singer named Doremi Faso, although they aren't a bit alike. (Try saying Faso's name aloud, and think 'musical scale'.) Bathbone's little and sweet, while Faso is 'quite the opposite, with the shape and weight of a walrus and the ego of several roosters.' After Faso drops dead trying to hit a high note, Bathbone (confused at the reports of Faso's death) dies in an accident. Heaven prefers people to be content with who they really are, so Bathbone is sent to meet the real Faso and get himself sorted out. The trouble is, Faso's reputation was bigger than his talent, so Bathbone refuses to believe that the terrible singer performing in an empty concert hall is the real Faso. :)

"Simple Sentences" The Devil isn't too pleased to be waked up from a nap by two new arrivals quarreling with each other and a minor demon over their entry forms. (*Of course* the place has forms to fill out.) One, a pickpocket, speaks a very thick cockney dialect, the other's very stuffy and stuck-up, and they don't agree about how they happened to die - the pickpocket says he wouldn't sink so low as to rob this guy. Worse, neither of them will talk straight.

"The Ear" The Devil doesn't get much play in this one - while he enjoyed watching the Pishpash, a clan who used to sacrifice a lot of turnips to their idol, nobody really missed them when they abandoned the idol after an earthquake tipped it over. But after many centuries, a half-grown kid named Beevis - whose parents never listen to him - happened to try to dig a well right over the idol's buried ear.

Rating:
Summary: The Devil's up to no good again.
Review: Just like The Devil's Storybook, The Devil's Other Storybook is full of funny stories about how the Devil's evil plans are always being spoiled. These stories are cute, fun, and entertaining, with the underlying moral that the Devil just can't win. I read The Devil's Storybook in elementary school, and had to purchase both books in college. Both are delightful reads!