There lived a wicked devil who would capture men and set before them tasks that none could do. One day, the devil captured a poor villager. “If you tell me a job that none can do then I shall pay you a thousand gold coins, but if you cannot then I shall keep you in my prison.” The villager was at his wit’s end for he knew there was no task that was impossible for the powerful devil.
After a few days the devil again returned but the villager was still unable to think of a job. “Why are you looking so scared?” asked his wife. The man explained everything to his wife. “Give the devil my curly hair and ask him to straighten it!” said his wife with twinkling eyes.
The villager gave the hair to the devil who did everything possible to straighten it, but to no avail. He paid the man and was never seen again.