The lad and the devil

Once upon a time there was a lad who went along a road cracking nuts. He happened to find one which was worm-eaten, and shortly afterwards he met the devil. "Is it true," said the lad, "what they say, that the devil can make himself as small as he likes, and go through a pin-hole?" "Yes, of course," answered the devil. "Well let me see you do it; creep into this nut if you can," said the lad. And the devil did it. But he had no sooner got through the worm-hole, then the lad put a small peg in the hole. "I have got you safe, now," he said, and put the nut in his pocket. When he had walked some distance he came to a smithy. He went in there and asked the smith if he could crack that nut for him. "Yes that's easily done," said the smith, and too the smallest hammer that he had, laid the nut on the anvil, and gave it a blow, but it didn't break, so he took a somewhat bigger hammer, but that wasn't heavy enough either; then he took a still bigger one, but no, the nut would not break. This made the smith angry, and he seized the big sledge hammer. "I shall soon make bits of you," he said, and gave the nut such a blow that it went into a thousand pieces, and sent half the roof of the smithy flying in the air. Such a crash! Just as if the hut was tumbling together.
"I think the devil was in the nut," said the smith.
"So he was," said the lad.