Folklore: Superstition and belief

Also, one time, told by my mom, this guy was tending his horse and a person came out of nowhere. It was a silhouette (individual thing, doesn’t happen to everybody), he was freaked out and the guy told him straight out, “I’m the devil.” But he says, “whatever” and shoots the figure. But the figure made fun of him, saying “Ow! That hurts!” and just starts laughing.

Analysis:

The guy was either drunk, maybe the person was having religious issues. It’s basically saying to believe there are other powers in this world. I believe there’s a fourth dimension I don’t see. I do believe there’s things we don’t see that are against us. When I pray and stuff, you can still fall into temptation of evil or lust. And I think the angel goes back to God, saying there’s too many demons in the way. The enemy’s against you but the word of God is for you.

My Analysis:

Once again, in the Latin American countries, many of the indigenous people mixed the Christian faith (angels) with magic and mysticism (the mysterious figure). The feelings were often dark and fears of evil were widespread.  In this story, it kind of ends on a weird note – one of laughter.  It is nearly an antithesis, but also a display of the man’s weakness against this mysterious figure.  It plays once again on people’s fears of the devil, and it’s sometimes hard to predict what shape or form he will take.  The devil also cannot be killed, and takes on a aura of invincibility in this tale.