Jabez Stone, a down-on-his-luck New Hampshire farmer agrees to an unthinkable bargain with Mr. Scratch—seven years of prosperity in exchange for his soul. But when Mr. Scratch returns to collect on the debt, Stone is not willing to live up to his end of the bargain, and instead hires the famous orator and lawyer, Daniel Webster, to defend him. When Webster gets Mr. Scratch to agree to a trial, the devil brings in a host of traitorous American historical figures as the judge and jury, and Webster has his work cut out for him.
A retelling of the classic German tale Faust, Stephen Vincent Benet's "The Devil and Daniel Webster" was inspired by "The Devil and Tom Walker" by Washington Irving. Since its publication, "The Devil and Daniel Webster", and the lore upon which it was based, have inspired many other tales about the perils of striking deals with the devil.
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