From The Stop Gap, June 15
Johann Faust
Alleged stakes: Unlimited knowledge and pleasure
Outcome: Dragged to Hell (in some versions spared at the last minute by the eternal feminine. Nice!)
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Sæmundur Sigfússon, Icelandic priest
Alleged stakes: Sæmundur was permitted to ride on the Devil's back all the way home to Iceland in the form of a seal (the Devil was in the form of the seal, not Sæmundur)
Outcome: "When they neared the shore of Iceland he raised his Bible and brought it down on the devil’s head as hard as he could, at which the seal sunk to the bottom of the sea."....
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