• TALES FROM THE BYGONE PRESENT •
THE MILLER & THE DEVILS DANCE
OR THE MAD MILLER AND HIS MERRY BAND OF FOOLS 

There was a time not so long ago, when the Devil walked the earth under the board sky, and many of the leaders who were charged with the care of the green and prosperous nations threw aside their loyalty and duty to the people and welcomed the Devil and his cohort of demons into the halls of power. And they grovelled before him to gain the Devils favour even embracing the Devils false prophets and they exchanged the welfare of their people and prosperity of their nations, for the promise that they would be showered with riches and gifted power over all.

But the Devil was not so beguiling that he had his own way in the world, in the wide lands across the deep cold ocean he was rejected and a mere handful of his demons were left cowering in dark corners as the Devil was chased from the land by the Baron of the Golden Halls, a tale that must surely be told.

So the Devil made his way through the pleasant and prosperous lands of the north in the guise of a traveller and ruin followed after.

Over his shoulder a rough sack woven from the threads of mans deceit and in his hand he held the staff of decay it’s touch reduced the great towns and cities of those nations to poverty and degradation, their streets forsaken and reduced to squalor and out of the filth that choked the once thriving market squares and thoroughfares crept the savage and the ignorant strangers, grasping, slacked jawed, dead eyed, vacant and quick to violence being ruled by their most base desires and their contempt for the good people whose forefathers had laboured and bled to bring about such wonders upon God’s earth.

And the Devil smiled as he watched the seeds of corruption and decay grow and flourish, but he sought ever new ways to heap poverty and misery on the good people. 

So it was that in a quiet lane that he came across a cowed and dejected figure wailing in the hedge row and the Devil watched this figure for a while as he contemplated what mischief could be achieved and he drew forth the pouch in witch he kept the Little Lord Stammer and holding up the diminutive figure the Devil whispered in his ear, What have we here? This little man has clearly lost his wits, shall we listen to his story and find the root of his despair and if it can be of use to us. So he took the hand of the dejected man and said; Calm yourself I am your friend and comrade, tell me what troubles you, for within your account may lie the remedy to your woe.

And the man looked up with eyes wide with madness and dread saying, Take pity kind sir for we are all beset from every side with danger, and he looked quickly about him in haste and fear. 

The Devil was intrigued and said, Put your faith in me and I will do every thing in my power to bring you aid and comfort, so say on and tell me your tale.

And the man replied. There is no aid, there is no comfort to be had, and his voice fell to a whisper, I am a miller by trade, times were hard and my wealth was dwindling. When one day without warning I was visited by a vision of the Princess Von Dooms Berg. She warned me of the fiend that lives in the very air about us, it marauds across the world looking to destroy us all to turn every thing into fire. It cannot be seen, smelt or touched and it feeds on the very breath of life looking for the opportunity to visit destruction upon us, and when I said that I was just a humble miller with no power to defy such a monster, the Princess Von Dooms Berg berated me and declared the only way to defeat this beast is appease it’s voracious appetite for gold and to keep it at bay with fear, so I must pull down and rebuild my mill bigger and many times over as the spinning sails will strike terror into this monster and drive it away, but the merchants that build the mills want gold and silver for their labours, so I am left to weep until the air demon finds and destroys me.

And the Devil found this account of such surpassing amusement that he let out a sardonic exclamation, and drew the miller close to him, looking into his eyes he saw the depths of the millers insanity written there. So he opened the top of the mad millers skull and with a blood stained claw stirred the barren dust within that empty head and as he did he said in a low bewitching voice, I will give you the gift of my guile and ardour, you shall have your mills and you shall bathe in gold if you hold to your purpose and chase the invisible monster from the world and I shall make you a Prince and equal to the Princess Von Dooms Berg and if any attempt to gainsay your tale or refuse to render up their gold for their salvation the palace guard will lay hands on them and confine them to the dungeons.

At this the miller leapt up with great gusto and cried out in foolish childlike joy and immediately began to clap his hands as he jigged and capered about, dancing with wild abandon the dance of the irredeemable lunatic and at times he strummed upon a lute and cast his madness into song.

So the Devil reached into the sack and drew out a pinch dust from the floor of Hell itself and cast it into the air and where every grain landed even in the cold sea there sprouted hideous mills that drew no water and ground no grain with a narrow shaft and sharp knife like blades that thrashed at the air unlike the sails of the gentle wind mills that had served man for so many years.

And the Devil then drew from the sack a handful of tiny doll like figures some fat and ungainly some thin and pinched but all crude and unlovely, Lambley the fool, Reeds the innumerate, Raider the treacherous with many more besides the Devil cast them on to the ground where they immediately leapt up and joined the mad millers dance and mindlessly parroted his chants and the whirling blades brought forth a low low mournful drone that upon hearing blackened the mood of the people and the dark seeped into their hearts and minds and gave them no rest by day or night.

Now the Devil looked about him and saw that the people were gathering round to watch the dance and some were already joining in and taking up the chants being enamoured of the tale of the invisible monster, while others looked on in silence and horror.

So the devil placed the Little Lord Stammer at the centre of the dance and turning to the crowd he gestured to the tiny dancing figures as he swept into a low bow of mock reverence and proclaimed, Behold your leaders, see now the carnival of imbeciles I have brought to rule over you, listen to their chant and take it to heart for it will take every thing you own to save you from disaster and those that oversee the building of the mills will be showered with gold compelled from the citizenry with threats and force and so by your leaders idiocy and villainy you like the savage strangers will suck on the life blood of the good and prosperous, though the host sickens and dies and all falls to destruction you at least will die on a bed of riches and name me benefactor with your last breath.

And many that looked on saw the Devil for who he was and fled in terror, some ran and hid them selves and said nothing others tried to warn their fellow citizens of the Devils intensions, those that remained  took up the mad millers chant and took to the green country to despoil the fertile fields and lay low the mighty ancient wood lands to plant their hellish mills. And with every mighty tree the very pillars of life that fell, all the millions of Gods creatures some no bigger than the eye of a needle, busing themselves among leaf and bark that called these majestic giants home, fell down into the dust and died, unregarded and unmourned, even the birds of the air that God had gifted the wide skies to were hacked from the air and the beauty of their song silenced forever by the flailing blades.

As the infernal mills multiplied urged on by the demons and their willing collaborators the Devil looked upon the degradation of the land and laughed, then he gathered up the little Lord Starmmer and held him up to see the ravaged land. Will God be angry with me? murmured the little Lord and the devil held him close to his eye and said, I am your God now, the farther that made you made a tool that fits my hand too perfection and is most apt to the task, you are my possession until the end of time, I have a special place for you in my everlasting realm where you will learn the meaning of obedience. Are you not thankful for my gifts and largesse? 

And the little lord replied in a meek voice, Yes, I am the willing instrument of your will. And the Devil smiled and dropped the little lord into his pouch and put it into the sack of deceit which he slung over his shoulder and gazed again upon the blighted land and the mad miller and his band of merry fools dancing and capering among the infernal mills and was best pleased with his work.

So the Devil took up his staff once more and made his way through the pleasant and prosperous lands of the north in the guise of a traveller and ruin followed after.