Girl in the Bearskin
by C. L. Stone
Adelina Yousef is sent home penniless and thankless for the job she’s done protecting her country. On her way home, she meets a demon, who tests her courage: If she lives for a full seven years under a cloak of a bearskin, never washing, never trimming her hair or nails, she will forever have all the money she will ever need. If she dies during the seven years, he claims her soul.
She agrees, and at first she lives okay, but as the years go on, as people being to turn their backs on that ugly, filthy girl in the bearskin, her courage begins to falter. Can anyone ever look past her appearance to give her food, shelter, or even love?
And why does the demon follow her so close, and tempt her at every turn to give up, to give her soul to him?
**
She agrees, and at first she lives okay, but as the years go on, as people being to turn their backs on that ugly, filthy girl in the bearskin, her courage begins to falter. Can anyone ever look past her appearance to give her food, shelter, or even love?
And why does the demon follow her so close, and tempt her at every turn to give up, to give her soul to him?
**