One day, a devil found three men being chased by the king’s army. “Please save us,” implored the three men. The devil agreed. “But you have to serve me for seven years. At the end you must solve a puzzle.”
The men readily agreed and the devil rescued them. As the seven years neared its end they grew anxious. They met an old woman who suggested, “Go to the monster’s grandmother. She may help you.”
The grandmother took pity on the men. She hid them in a room. When the monster came to visit she asked him to unravel the puzzle. The devil said, “In the great North Sea lies a dead dog-fish; that shall be your roast meat, and the rib of a whale shall be your silver spoon, and a hollow old horse’s hoof shall be your wine glass.”
The men memorised the answer and repeated it to the devil when he arrived after seven years. The devil lost his power and ran away.