Devil in the Bottle

Hey, you! The little one has escaped! And it's growing really fast!

Brazilian folklore has this legend about a devil in a bottle. It seems to be a Portuguese heritage and it has nothing to do with alcoholism as in the songs of Lynyrd Skynyrd or TG Sheppard. Instead it is a small imp or demon kept in a bottle that can grant to its owner power and money. It has similarities to Robert Louis Stevenson's tale "The Bottle Imp".

To whom that is interested in owning a devil in the bottle, the recommendation is, first of all, celebrate a demonic pact. Then one will have to get the egg from which will emerge an about 15 cm imp. In some regions people say that it’s a chicken egg fertilized by Lucifer. Others believe that it's a rooster (?) egg.

Believers have to seek it during the Lent. After finding the egg the owner will carry it under his left arm and take it on the first following Friday before midnight at a crossroads, and wait there for the next day. In the early hours of Saturday, he will return home, keep the egg in a safe place and take a deserved rest. Forty days later, a devil will be born, it should be immediately locked up in a clear glass bottle tightly closed, to avoid any unforeseen nasty event. Hereafter, over the years, the devil will enrich its owner, and after his death, will take his soul to where nobody knows... but can imagine.

By the way, this is my entry for this week Three Muses challenge: BOTTLE.

Little devils (slightly altered) by Marcus Hedlock (chubby) and Isac Vitor Medeiros (one-horned); skinny one from a free wallpaper;