On the outskirts of town,
there was a huge nut tree by the cemetery fence. One day
two boys filled up a bucketful
of nuts and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and
began dividing the nuts.
"One for you, one for me.
One for you, one for me," said one boy. The bucket was so
full, several rolled out toward
the fence. Cycling down the road by the cemetery was a
third boy. As he passed, he thought
he heard voices from inside the cemetery. He
slowed down to investigate. Sure
enough, he heard, "One for you, one for me. One for
you, one for me."
He knew what it was. "Oh,
my!" He shuddered, "It's Satan and St. Peter dividing the
souls at the cemetery!" He cycled
down the road as fast as he could and found an old
man with a cane, hobbling along.
"Come quick!" said the boy. "You won't believe what I
heard. Satan and St. Peter are
down at the cemetery dividing the souls."
The man said, "Shoo, you
brat! Can't you see I'm finding it hard to walk as it is!" But
after several pleas, the man hobbled
to the cemetery. Standing by the fence they
heard, "One for you, one for me.
One for you, one for me ..."
The old man whispered, "Boy,
you've been telling the truth! Let's see if we can see the
devil himself."
Shivering with fear, they
peered through the fence, yet they were still unable to see
anything. The old man and the boy
gripped the wrought iron bars of the fence tighter
and tighter as they tried to get
a glimpse of Satan. At last they heard, "One for you,
one for me. And one last one for
you. That's all. Now let's go get those nuts by the
fence, and we'll be done."
They say the old guy made it back to town five minutes before the boy did.
