Tétiyette & The Devil
The story of "Tétiyette and the Devil" begins with a woman and her only child Tétiyette. One day, a goat came to their house in need of a drink. The woman asked her daughter to get the goat a drink and she does, but when the goat saw Tétiyette he asked her to marry him. She of course denies his request quickly. Next a pig came and asked for the same thing. Tétiyette again curves her pursuer in disgust.
When a presentable man, with lots of gold on, came to Tétiyette and asked for her hand in marriage, she finally agreed. Her mother notices that the man is too perfect and warns Tétiyette. She tells her daughter how to tell if the man is the devil or not. She ignores all the signs and ends up getting eaten by the devil. When she gets down to half a toe, her brother comes in and cuts the devil open saving Tétiyette.
In summary, I think the author's purpose was to teach a lesson to the readers. This being, that you shouldn't just judge someone from their outside appearance. Also, to always head your parents' or any elder's advice. This is evident when Tétiyette's parents say, "Agh! I don't give a damn! I had already warned her to beware." The mother said: "As far as I'm concerned, I had also warned her to beware."(258, Esteves). Her brother ends up being the only one to help her because she ignored the people who tried to steer her right to begin with.
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