Hola

THE DEVIL DOES A GOOD DEED
Folk story from the State of Sonora
One evening, while having dinner with don Evaristo and doña Almanda, I asked our guest if he knew any stories from the state ofSonora. “You see, Emily and I are planning to drive to Sonora for the holidays,” I said.
“Now, let me think,” don Evaristo said and thought for a while. “Ah, yes. I’ve just thought of a good one. ‘TheDevil Does a Good Deed’, it’s called.”
“The Devil.” said Emily, “Are you going to frighten us?”
“Not quite. This story is about an old lady named Eulogia, who lived all alone on a small ranch, in aforgotten corner in the middle of the Sonora desert. Eulogia had very few visitors. Maybe once or twice a year, a muleteer would take a wrong turning and come across the ranch by accident. And thesechance visits were the only times Eulogia received any news from the outside world.” Don Evaristo began.
“Her husband had been a member of an infamous gang of bandits, feared throughout the territory.After one particularly dangerous raid against federal troops, the leader of the gang presented Eulogia’s husband with a dramatic painting of a devil. This was his way of thanking Eulogia’s husband forsaving his life during the bitter encounter. Though he was not at all happy about the subject of the painting, Eulogia’s husband could not, of course, refuse a gift from his leader and friend. That day,when he arrived home, he placed the picture behind a door, and there it stayed. Even after his death, the picture stayed there; being one of the few things he left his solitary wife to remember himby.
“Now, when our story begins, Eulogia was still in good health, though advanced in years. She still kept her own house and did her own housework, and, whenever she went through the door on whichthe strange painting hung, she used to say, ‘Poor thing! You never see the face of God, do you?’ Then she would take a cloth and gently sweep off the dust from the painting. This daily ritual repeated...