Everybody Loves Satan!: The Chronicle of Young Satan, Chapter 5 • The Devil According to Mark Twain

Five weeks in Eseldorf and everybody loves Satan — which is turning out to be almost as much of a problem as if they hated him. Philip Traum has been charming the whole village, pulling a famously fat man out of a river without getting his clothes wet, refusing to fill out the standard form for strangers, and generally making things worse for everyone who is supposed to love someone else. The Witch Commission has not summoned Father Adolf for questioning, even though everyone watched him get possessed in the market square, because nobody wants to be the one to say it first — which is, Twain notes, exactly the cowardice they're criticizing the Commission for.We dig into a chapter that runs like a three-camera sitcom: Theodore's family is mid-conversation about Philip Traum when Lily's actual suitor Joseph Fox walks in, then Wilhelm Meidling — Margit's suitor and a man in open romantic freefall — walks in from the other direction, and then Satan himself shows up and Wilhelm grabs a butcher knife. The knife drops to the floor. For just a moment, something dangerous flashes in Satan's eyes. Then he tells everyone Wilhelm was only playing, sits down with him, and reconstructs all four chess games from memory in roughly fifteen seconds. The key detail Twain slips in: it never occurred to Satan to notice that Joseph's courtship of Lily had evaporated the moment he walked into town. He wasn't trying. He just does this.We also cover Theodore's mother talking herself into Satan as a potential in-law, the rattlesnake defense, and the Aeolian harp — a string instrument played entirely by wind that is genuinely one of the coolest things that has come up this season.The Devil's Details show page/archiveBanana for Scale Facebook GroupConnect with Kynan on Instagram or LetterboxdConnect with Lester on Facebook, Instagram, or X ---Learn more about supporting this podcast by becoming a member. It's just $5/month or $55/year. Visit our website to learn more.Check out the other podcasts in the Banana for Scale family of podcasts:Every Minute of Everything Everywhere All at OnceThe Exorcist Minute