>The Greentext Archive

Hey /x/ I have a story for you.
I can't clearly remember when my Grandpa (RIP) actually told me about this, the memory kinda popped out some time after he died

>Grandpa was about ten at the time
>small village in southern Sardinia
>poor as fuck, to this day the poorest region in Italy
>people used to live in houses made of "landini"
>basically a sun dried mixture of clay mud and hay
>some medieval type shit
>Grandpa is playing with some friend in the streets
>it's getting late and there's a curfew, time to get home
>Grandpa decides to take the long way home, as he was in the mood for a walk
>at some point, he hears someone calling his name faintly, almost like a whisper
>freaks him out, so he starts walking faster
>he hears it again, this time louder and clearer in the voice of a man without any kind of accent
>this is important because us Sardinians have a very strong accent and if you know about it it's immediately noticeable
>Grandpa also used to have a unique ancient-roman-inspired name his father made up, so there was no mistaking it yet there was no one in sight
>it was also getting darker by the minute
>Grandpa is literally shitting his pants atm
>a strong smoke smell hits his nose, stronger and more pungent than a cigarette
>the man calls again, this time followed by a whistle
>"Right here, Grandpa."
>finally, leaning on a short stone wall, Grandpa saw what he described as a "distinct looking man"
>clean shaven, slicked back hair, smoking from a pipe, wearing leather shoes and a long black coat.
>he was holding a cane in his left hand and a leather pouch in his right
>as I said, at the time people were still pretty much medieval peasants in the region so that must've looked absurdly out of place
>"Come closer." said the man
>"No, you're going to kidnap me!" Grandpa answered.
>"Absolutely not. I actually have a present for you." replied the man, as he showed Grandpa the content of the leather pouch.

CONT.

>the pouch was allegedly full of gold coins and jewels
>Grandpa knows something must be off, yet he's also very tempted
>"Come on, I'm gonna make you rich."
>Grandpa finally gives in and starts walking towards the gold
>as he was getting closer, the man started to look off
>he said what looked like leather shoes were actually goat like hooves
>what looked like a cashmere coat was actually made from black crow feathers
>also, his face looked like stretched out leather and some mixture of black oil and dirty blood was oozing and dripping from his slicked back hair
>his cane also turned into a hissing serpent, crawling in a spiral onto the man's arm
>Grandpa was now standing in front of the demonic creature, paralyzed
>it's breath smelled like a rotting corpse set ablaze with motor oil
>the stench probably worked like ammonia salts and Grandpa miraculously snapped out of the terror, escaping just a moment before the demon grabbed him by the neck
>he made it home running as fast as he can, without ever looking back and praying over his panting breath
>Despite all this, Grandpa was still thinking about that gold and didn't sleep that night
>can't blame him since he found himself eating boiled old leather shoe soles many times
>people were THAT poor, yes
>at about 430AM he snuck out of the house and came back to the encounter place looking for the bag
>what he found was not what he expected though
>he said he found a canvas sack full of dirt, worms shit and some pieces of coal

Up until the day he told me the story, Grandpa remained sure he actually met the Devil himself and managed to escape from him.