One of the staples of modern media portrayals of the Devil is the ability to summon him with the right magical incantations. And, indeed, there are ample folkloric precedents for this practice.
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The Devil and the Teacher
In Reinsfeld, there once was a teacher who was able to summon the Devil. During one night he did so at the request of four merry fellows,[1] and commanded the Devil to bring 15 new thaler coins for each of them.[2] Before that, he put the four of them in the middle of a chamber around a table, on which a blessed candle was burning. He also made a circle around them and commanded them not to leave it. The teacher himself had sat down in a corner next to the door so that he was able to use the light to read in his book.[3] When the clock struck twelve o’clock, he started to read, and soon there was knocking on the door. The teacher invited the knocker, and the Devil appeared in hideous form. He was brimmed with fire so that the flames shot out of his ribs.
The teacher commanded him to return in the form of a huntsman. The Devil immediately did so, and asked for what task he had been summoned. “You shall bring each of the four people sitting there 15 new thalers and put it into the bucket”, the teacher replied. The Devil vanished and immediately jingling could be heard from the bucket. He poured in two portions. When he poured in the third portion, he had to arrange a portion of the thalers carefully, and for the fourth portion he had to unpack the coins and put them on top with great care. But he was soon finished with the task, for he knew very well how to count money. At the same time, he entered the chamber and made a lot of noise: He pierced a hole into the floor behind each of them so that it was possible to see all the way down to hell; he removed the ceiling and the roof from the house so that it was possible to see the stars in the sky; he took a millstone and hung it up above the table at a hazel branch, fastening it with a thread of twine, and then put a tailor on the millstone who was forced to cut at the thread with his scissors, but all of this could not frighten the four witnesses. Then he fetched an entire wagon full of straw and burned it around the four - all in vain. Finally, as the clock was almost about to strike one o’clock, he exclaimed: “But I must have one of you! Whom shall I take? The one with the red bib?” Then the one with the red bib lost his nerve and shouted: “No, take the magister!” With a tearing noise, the Devil vanished with the money and left only a stench behind. On the road the bucket was found torn apart, and to the north a whole heap of horse’s dung was scattered.
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[1] The original German term was “lustige Brüder” - “merry brothers”. However, judging from the context this more likely implies “drinking companions” than any blood relation.
[2] The Devil is commanded to bring each of them a Malter thalers, an archaic number value meaning fifteen.
[3] Presumably this refers to the light of the blessed candle and not some outside light source.
Translation note: The teacher is called a “Schulmeister” (“master of the school”) in the German source. This term was generally used to refer to village teachers, who were usually the entirety of the teaching staff in the village.
Commentary: Teachers know a lot of things that ordinary people do not - so it is perhaps not surprising that many folklore tales suspect them of knowing magical arts as well.
As for the actual summoning itself, it is interesting to note that (since the summoning is all about getting money) it shares the same taboo as many treasure hunting tales. Just like treasures must be retrieved under complete silence in the face of illusions by dubious spirits, the people who want to get money through such a ritual must remain quiet as well. Considering that they lost nothing more than the money itself, they should count themselves lucky with this outcome.
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The Devil Fetches a Lovesick Cleric at Freiberg
(After Camerarius, Horae subcisivae. Cent. I No 70. Moller, Vol. II., p. 19.)[1]
Once, a theologian at the monastery school in Freiberg fell deeply for a beautiful maiden. Since he was unable to seduce her to his will, he sought advice and assistance with a practitioner of the black arts. The latter pulled him into a circle and started his usual incantations. The Devil, who does not have be pleaded for long to participate in such travesties, quickly appeared in the form of the maiden and acted in such a manner that the young man, who had been half-maddened by his lust, deluded himself that the object of his affections had appeared before him. Thus, he jumped up and reached for her outside of the circle with his hand. But this was to his misfortune and doom, for immediately the Devil pulled him towards him and threw him against the wall in such a manner that he died instantly. However, the Devil did not spare the practitioner of the black arts either, but took hold of the smashed body and threw it back into the circle with such force that the latter became frozen in place due to it and spent the rest of the night whimpering on the ground. He was found the next morning half dead and was brought to justice in an appropriate manner afterwards.
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[1] The Camerarius line was an extended family of scholars from the Nuremberg/Bamberg region. The cited title might be Philippi Camerarius’ Operae Horarum Succisivarum Sive Meditationes Historicae, a massive collection of essays on history, natural history, and politics which was first published in Latin in 1599 and then reprinted as expanded editions in later years, as well as translated into German, French, and English. A German translation can be found here, but I haven’t been able to find the relevant passage.
Commentary: Again, we see one of the fundamental laws of summoning in German folklore: Follow the instructions exactly, or things will go very badly for you. Furthermore, if you involve lay people in your arts, they will almost always screw it up.