The Devil and the Holy Water

In a rustic inn in Veerle, two men sat together with the innkeeper. They wanted to play a card game, but they were missing a fourth person. At that moment, an unknown man suddenly entered. Without many words, he joined the group. The men found it strange that this strange fellow spoke no word at all. He played silently, without making a sound.

As the game continued, the innkeeper bent down to pick up a fallen card. To his great horror, he saw something terrible: the strange man did not have normal feet – he had horse hooves! The innkeeper felt cold chills run down his spine. Without hesitation, he jumped up and ran to the cellar of the inn. He quickly fetched a bottle of holy water from the supplies and ran back. Before anyone could speak, he poured the entire bottle of holy water over the head of the strange man.

The devil screamed in pain and outrage. Then he flew away from the inn like a wild gust of wind. The innkeeper, still trembling with fear, spoke in shock to the two customers: “Now I have seen something! Did you not see that this fellow had horse hooves?” The men at first laughed at him, thinking he was joking. But when they looked at the ground, they saw something that made them fall silent: on the floor were clear hoofprints of a horse burned into it! The proof was there, etched into the earth as a warning against the devil himself.