Imagine a soldier, brave and strong, but his war was over. And guess what? His pockets were totally empty! Not a single shiny coin. He walked and walked, feeling a bit gloomy, until he found himself in a dark, spooky forest.

Suddenly, a strange little man with fiery red eyes and a pointy tail popped out from behind a tree. "Well, well, what have we here?" he chuckled. This was no ordinary little man; it was the Devil himself!

The Devil said, "I can make you rich! But you have to work for me for seven years. And here’s the catch: no washing, no haircuts, no nail-trimming, and absolutely no saying your prayers. Easy peasy, right?"

The soldier, whose tummy was rumbling, thought, "Seven years is a long time, but gold sounds good!" So he said, "Alright, Mr. Devil, it's a deal!"

The Devil gave him a special green coat. Whenever the soldier put his hand in the pocket, it came out full of gold! Wow! His job was to keep big fires roaring under giant pots in the Devil's kitchen. "Don't peek inside!" warned the Devil before he zoomed off on some devilish business.

But the soldier was curious. When the Devil was away, he tiptoed over and lifted a lid. Phew! It was hot! And guess who he saw bubbling in the pots? His old grumpy sergeant, his bossy corporal, and another mean officer from his army days! "Heh," thought the soldier, and he grabbed a long poker. "A little extra heat for you, sirs!" And he poked the fire to make it even hotter.

Seven years zoomed by. The soldier was super sooty, his hair was like a bird’s nest, and his nails were super long. The Devil came back. "Time's up!" he said. "What's in that knapsack on your back?"

"Oh, just some soot from your fires," said the soldier, trying not to grin. The Devil, not being the brightest, believed him. "Alright, you can keep the knapsack and the green coat. Off you go!"

The soldier, looking like a walking chimney sweep, arrived at an inn. The innkeeper gasped, "Goodness me, what a mess! We don't have room for… for… you!" But then the soldier pulled out a handful of shiny gold coins. The innkeeper’s eyes popped. "Oh! Ahem! Welcome, sir! We have the best room for you!"

The soldier asked for a hot bath, a shave, and a haircut. When he came out, he was a handsome young man again! The innkeeper had three daughters. Two of them had wrinkled their noses when they saw the sooty soldier. But the youngest daughter had been kind and smiled at him.

The soldier, now clean and rich, asked the innkeeper, "I'd like to marry one of your daughters." The two older daughters quickly said, "Oh, pick me! Pick me!" But the soldier smiled and said, "I'll marry the one who was kind to me even when I looked like a pile of soot." And so, he chose the youngest daughter.

He shared his gold: some for himself and his new wife, some for people who needed help, and some for the wedding feast.

At the wedding party, who should burst in but the Devil! "Aha!" he roared. "You tricked me! Those souls you were 'stoking' in my pots were my own special bad guys! You owe me your soul!"

The soldier stayed calm. "Mr. Devil," he said, "I worked for you. I have a right to half the fruit that grows on a certain tree in your garden." The Devil, thinking of juicy apples or pears, licked his lips. "Alright, half the fruit. But then your soul is mine!"

The soldier grinned. "The tree I mean," he said, "is the gallows tree, where bad people are punished. And the 'fruit' are the souls you thought you'd get! So, half of those souls are now free because of me!"

The Devil stamped his foot. He’d been tricked again! He vanished in a puff of smelly smoke, angrier than ever. The soldier and his kind wife laughed. They lived happily, always remembering to be kind, and maybe, just maybe, to take a bath more often than once every seven years!

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