How the Devil Married Three Sisters

Door to Hell


Serafina: OK guys. Finals are coming up. Remember you need to be keeping up with everything that we have done because it will all be on the final.

Vera: Will, will it include all your extra curricular lessons?

Serafina: Will it include what?

Vera: Your "love" lessons?

Serafina: Well, I would hope you have learned enough from all of those the first time that you wouldn't need to be tested over them.

Lauren: Aww. I'm going to miss all the lessons we learn in here.

Alice: Me too. Maybe she could tell us one more. Maybe just for future relationships we might have.

Vera: Here we go again.

Lauren: Yay! I want to hear another story.

Serafina: OK. Let me think. There was this guy. He wanted to get married. He came across this family. There were three sisters in this family. This guy got acquainted with the eldest daughter and ended up marrying her. The one thing he had failed to tell his wife was that he was the devil, not just figuratively, but really.

Vera: I think I like this story.

Serafina: I thought you might. Anyway, when they got home from the wedding, he gave her a beautiful bouquet. As he was showing her around the house, he showed her one door and said she was not to ever open that door. She promised not to, but she secretly was just waiting until he left so she could see what he was hiding behind the door. After he left, she opened the door and she saw a huge fire. She quickly slammed the door shut, but not before the flames had singed her bouquet. When her husband got home, he knew she had opened the door. He got angry and threw her into the flames. He then went for her younger sister. After they were married, he brought her home, and also gave her a bouquet. While showing her around the house, he told her to not go into the room he tried to keep her sister out of. As soon as he left, she got curious and went to go see what was behind the door. Her flowers were also burned. When the devil got home, he saw her flowers and he also threw her into the flames. He then went for the last sister. She was smart, though. She knew that he had killed her two sisters, and she was not going to fall for it. She just wanted to figure out what had happened. After the wedding, he did the same thing for her. He gave her flowers and forbade her from going into the room of fire. When he left, she went to look through the door, but she did not have her flowers with her. She saw what was behind the door, but there was no way that he would know about it. She pulled her two sisters out of hell and hid them. When her husband came home, he suspected nothing. She asked him to do her a favor. She asked if he would carry three trunks to her father's house for her, not stopping at all on the journey. He agreed to do that for her. She had her sisters each get into a trunk and then she got into the third one. He carried the trunks to her father's house. He got home and realized that his wife was not there. He went to her parent's house to let them know that she was missing. He was surprised when he got there to see all three sisters sitting on the balcony. He got outsmarted. He then decided that he didn't ever want to get married.

Vera: I liked that one better than the other ones. But what is that supposed to teach us?

Alice: To teach us not to date the devil or we might end up in hell.

Serafina: Very good Alice. And just think. If you think your relationship is hell, just think it could be worse.



Author's Note:
I chose this story because it gives a warning about relationships. I thought it would be nice to have a story that gives a lesson for later life since it is the end of the year and they won't have their daily advice from Serafina for much longer. I tried to keep it pretty close to the original story. I didn't go into as much detail about the journey in the trunks back to her parent's house as the original did, but I didn't feel that was as important as the rest of the story. While he was carrying them, he did get tired and want to set the cases down, but they just kept talking to him from inside the trunks telling him that he had to continue because his wife was watching him. This was their form of punishment for what he did to them, and it worked very well. I also chose this story because it gives Vera her own little story that she actually likes. The other stories were a little too sappy for her, but talking about the devil is more her type of story. Also, it fits her to have a story about getting revenge. I didn't want her to go through the entire semester not enjoying the stories.


"How the Devil Married Three Sisters" Italian Popular Tales; Thomas Crane, 1885.

Image Information:
The Door to Hell
Websource: The Anything Goes Wargaming School

Back To Home
Back To Intro