The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales

Content Warning: This section describes depictions of alcohol abuse.

John de Conquer gives a witch’s eagle beef to take him to the Devil. John wants the Devil to give him work. First, he meets the Devil’s daughter, who warns John against working for her father. Other men have worked for the Devil, and the labor killed them. John doesn't care, and the daughter, who thinks John is attractive, takes him to her father, who tells him to clear 60 acres of land in half a day. John struggles to clear the land, but the daughter arrives with her hatchet. She talks to it, and within seconds, she clears the land.

The Devil gives John another task: Plow the land and plant corn for the Devil’s dinner tomorrow night. John struggles, but the daughter arrives with her plow, talks to it, and does the job. The daughter says the Devil will kill him anyway, so they run away on the Devil’s two fastest horses. The pair gets a head start, but the Devil tells his boots to turn each step into 500 miles.

The daughter turns John into a fox and herself into a duck in a pond, and the Devil blows by them.