The story that Tom relates to his wife is about how he took a shortcut through the woods, and there encountered the Devil, who offered to give Tom a fortune in exchange for "certain conditions", which are not mentioned, but which apparently require some thought and consideration on Tom's part. Tom intends to think about this and then return to the Devil with his answer.
The narrative has some elements of a just-so story; things...
The story that Tom relates to his wife is about how he took a shortcut through the woods, and there encountered the Devil, who offered to give Tom a fortune in exchange for "certain conditions", which are not mentioned, but which apparently require some thought and consideration on Tom's part. Tom intends to think about this and then return to the Devil with his answer.
The narrative has some elements of a just-so story; things are exactly what they appear to be and explanations are shallow and matter-of-fact. Tom and his wife appear to be horrible people, and they are - there is no complexity to it. Thus, we may not be surprised that Tom displays none of the emotion that we might imagine accompanies meeting the Devil, and neither does his wife when she hears Tom's story. Instead, she fixates on how to secure the treasure, and bullies Tom to accept the terms set forth, whatever they are.
Tom's wife eventually becomes fed up with Tom's hesitation, and determines to gain the treasure for herself. However, her bullying nature is not taken well by the Devil, who apparently kills her for attempting to pick a fight with him.
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