In Cornwall there are many names for the Devil; Old Nick, Old Artful, Old Scratch, Tarraway.
The Devil is a builder in Cornish tales, building the cobbler’s home; and a dismantler, taking down the stonemason’s work at Towednack church each night
Ultimately, Old Nick is a trickster, persuading people to enter deals with him in return for their souls; sometimes folk outwit him, sometimes they don’t. Wrassler of Ladock enters a bargain to wrestle the Devil for four gold pieces. Duffy is charmed by a devil and she agrees to him knitting for her in exchange for her soul. The Devil tricks Prior John of Saint Germans to join him in a feast only to drive him down the Dandy Hole all the way to hell; here the Devil appears as a horned hunter. In the Giant’s Hat, the Devil tricks the giant and throws his hat and walking stick across Saint Austell Down before changing them into stone, while on Bodmin Moor gamekeeper Tom joins the devil poaching.
In many tales the Devil is driven away by the local priest. Old Scratch flies away as a huge black cloak billowing in the wind like a dragon’s smoke. Only the people of Torpoint trick him back by making a huge star Gazey Pie and the Devil is afraid of being used as pie filling.
Tregeagle and Bucca are also thought of as devils. Bucca Dhu, black spirit, dark half of Bucca’s being, is the angry and wrestless nature of the sea when stormy or plagued by dangerous tides. The devil Tregeagle is one a ghostly spirit devil whose name is whispered on the winds blowing gales over the moors and cliffs.
And then there are the little devils, buccas, lurking…
