In "The Devil and Tom Walker", what would you expect to find in the forest as the story begins? Why?

What one "should expect" is, of course, a matter of opinion, and we should take caution with questions and interpretations such as these that we do not develop an overly strong imperative that a reader "must" feel or think a certain way when experiencing a piece of literature. However, we can develop several reasonable expectations and inferences based on the content of this particular story, and the consistent elements of the genre it is written...

What one "should expect" is, of course, a matter of opinion, and we should take caution with questions and interpretations such as these that we do not develop an overly strong imperative that a reader "must" feel or think a certain way when experiencing a piece of literature. However, we can develop several reasonable expectations and inferences based on the content of this particular story, and the consistent elements of the genre it is written in.

While the exact genre of "The Devil and Tom Walker" is alternately described as Gothic, Romantic, or a simple parable, it does seem fairly consistent throughout the story that appearances are not deceiving; things are as they appear, and that which seems evil, ominous or foreboding, shall be so.

Thus, considering that the forest is described as dark, imposing, and generally not the sort of place you'd want to spend a lot of time around, we can conclude that it is probably an evil place as well, and we should expect to find evil there, or at least things which are consistent with traditional Western depictions and symbols of evil. This manifests in things besides the Devil, such as the appearance of the vulture later in the story, or the black mold which covers part of the ruined Indian fort.