A long time ago, the Devil wandered the earth and came to Thurgau. He marvelled at how beautifully God had made this little corner of the earth and how hard-working and pious the people there were. The longer he walked through the beautiful countryside, the more annoyed he became, and soon he had hatched a plan.

As he came over the Seerücken, he saw a stately village and thought to himself: ‘Here I am sure to find a few foolish farmers whom I can trick and take down to hell with me’.

First of all, he came across a farmer who was in the process of pressing freshly harvested apples and pears into juice. The farmer offered the stranger a sip of apple cider. The Devil had never tasted this wonderful drink before and wanted more of it. The farmer agreed, but something about the stranger struck him as odd, and when he saw that the man had goat’s hooves, he said: ‘It’s best to drink straight from the barrel. Look, there’s still a little left in there.’

He held the half-empty barrel out to the devil, and as the devil leaned over it, the farmer pushed him inside and quickly slammed the lid shut. 

Now the devil began to shout and bang inside the barrel. 

“Let me out, let me out!” he shouted.

The farmer let him shout for a while, then said: “All right, I’ll let you out if you give me seven gold talers.” The devil promised. So the farmer lifted the lid a little, took the money, and the devil vanished from the barrel like a flash. Who knows where he went; he was never seen again in Thurgau.