Devil Stories

At supper in a medieval nunnery, the Abbess admits a pilgrim only after he promises sacred songs. Then he arrives: lean as a hermit, scarlet-clad, and playing a tune that could “tickle the ribs of Death himself.”

In Francis Oscar Mann’s opening tale, the sisters of Maids Moreton keep their devotions in the rich, bustling countryside of medieval Buckinghamshire. Their rules seem firm, but the stranger’s lively music has the young nuns tittering and even the Abbess struggling to hide a smile. Maximilian J. Rudwin’s anthology gathers devilish stories that turn temptation into comedy, unease, and moral trouble. The pilgrim says his songs are holy—but what, exactly, has he brought into the nunnery besides his cithern?

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