Q 01/05

In The Devil and Tom Walker, what does Tom find tied up in his missing wife's checked apron?

A) A bag of pirate gold

B) A bundle of bones

C) A heart and liver

D) A severed hand

Answer · why

C) A heart and liver

A heart and liver are all that remain of her, hanging in a swamp tree. Tom had scrambled up hoping to recover the valuables she carried off.

Q 02/05

Which business does Tom Walker flatly refuse to enter, even though the devil proposes it first?

A) Piracy at sea

B) The slave trade

C) Rum smuggling

D) Counterfeiting coin

Answer · why

B) The slave trade

The slave trade is the one line Tom will not cross: the devil wants him to fit out a ship, and the miser says no. He happily settles for ruining borro...

Q 03/05

Why does Tom Walker at first turn down the devil's offer of a pirate's buried treasure?

A) To save his soul

B) To test the stranger's word

C) To bargain for more

D) To spite his wife

Answer · why

D) To spite his wife

To spite his wife, who nags him to accept, Tom refuses out of sheer contradiction. The narrator says he would not be damned just to please her.

Q 04/05

By which folksy nickname does Tom Walker identify the devil during their first meeting in the swamp?

A) Old Scratch

B) Old Nick

C) Old Harry

D) Old Clootie

Answer · why

A) Old Scratch

Old Scratch is the name Tom throws at the stranger, who answers with a half-civil nod. The devil has just listed his other titles, including grand mas...

Q 05/05

After Tom Walker vanishes, what do trustees find filling his iron chest in place of his fortune?

A) Pebbles and sand

B) Chips and shavings

C) Swamp moss and twigs

D) Rusty iron nails

Answer · why

B) Chips and shavings

Chips and shavings fill the chest, as if swept from the devil's woodpile. Tom's bonds and mortgages have turned to cinders, and two skeletons lie in t...