Johann is poor and unsure what to do after the war he served in ends. A remark that he'd do almost anything to make it home causes a demon to approach. If Johann lives for seven years wearing a coat of the skin of an attacking bear he killed without washing, shaving, or praying, he will receive gold as needed and even more after. He accepts and makes friends at first once he is seen as a strange but humble, generous man. But as his appearance becomes wilder and more feared and rejected, he fights despair. After four years, he hears a penniless merchant about to end his life, and helps him so is offered the hand of one of his daughters in return. Only the middle, Christina, accepts him. He leaves with a promise to return in three years, but each are uncertain if they will be reunited.
Johann is poor and unsure what to do after the war he served in ends. A remark that he'd do almost anything to make it home causes a demon to approach. If Johann lives for seven years wearing a coat of the skin of an attacking bear he killed without washing, shaving, or praying, he will receive gold as needed and even more after. He accepts and makes friends at first once he is seen as a strange but humble, generous man. But as his appearance becomes wilder and more feared and rejected, he fights despair. After four years, he hears a penniless merchant about to end his life, and helps him so is offered the hand of one of his daughters in return. Only the middle, Christina, accepts him. He leaves with a promise to return in three years, but each are uncertain if they will be reunited.
