Tales and Legends of the Devil

“In their majestic collection of folk stories about Satan, authors and curators Claude and Corinne Lecouteux unearth a truth that our culture translates into myth: we as a human community remain deeply affectionate toward our old gods. What in cinema is called Loki, Darth Vader, and Maleficent are the same archetypes that populate these Old-World legends in which our forebears were brave enough to call their antihero by his name. With the very able hand of translator Jon E. Graham, the Lecouteuxs have created a forbidden feast.” * Mitch Horowitz, PEN Award–winning author of Occult America and Uncertain Places *
“How do you best the devil and live happily ever after? Read Claude and Corinne Lecouteux’s Tales and Legends of the Devil, stories from across Europe, and find out. Claude Lecouteux is a master of unearthing hidden treasures from the European tradition.” * Arthur Versluis, author of The Secret History of Western Sexual Mysticism *
“Humanity’s relationship to adversity personified and elucidated in stories teaches us the value of the cunning trickster. From either the vantage point of moral hygiene stories or the lack thereof, these stories show us the importance and folly of cunning, something we all need to be reminded of. Claude and Corinne have done a fabulous job.” * Marcus McCoy, cofounder of the Viridis Genii Symposium and esoteric blacksmith at Troll Cunning Forg *
“Claude Lecouteux has written extensively and meticulously on the supernatural figures that appear in what is often called ‘the lower mythology’ of the Middle Ages and has shown how these same figures (still) haunt our own world. More than twenty of Claude Lecouteux’s books (including several coauthored by his wife, Corinne) have been translated and published by Inner Traditions over the past fifteen years. Why did I feel compelled to write a preface for this particular book? Perhaps because ‘the devil made me do it.’” * Jon E. Graham, award-winning translator of the Bavarian illuminati *

Claude Lecouteux (1943–2025) was a professor emeritus of medieval literature and civilization at the Sorbonne and author of numerous books on medieval beliefs and magic, including Tales of Witchcraft and Wonder.

Corinne Lecouteux is a translator specializing in tales and legends. She is the coauthor of Travels to the Otherworld and Other Fantastic Realms and lives in Paris.

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