Bearskin

In this Brother’s Grimm tale, the Devil promises a young post-Civil War soldier all the money he can use if he will wander around in a bearskin for seven years without bathing or cutting his hair, beard or nails. If he survives the seven years, the Devil will loose, but if he dies, the Devil will take his soul. After four years of being shunned by civilization, he meets a man about to lose his home to the bank and gives him money in exchange for on of the man’s daughter’s hand in marriage. After the two oldest daughters refuse to marry such an unkempt man, the youngest accepts because he helped her family. Three years later he returns--clean, handsome, and rich. The older sisters make a play for him only to find out he’s ‘Bearskin’ and belongs to their younger sister. One hangs herself and the other throws herself into the lake, so the Devil gets “two souls for the price of one.”