La chasse-galerie (The fantastic journey)

Once upon a time, lost far and deep in the middle of nowhere in the Boreal Forest, there was a camp of timber workers. Those workers had been cutting down trees for the previous 6 months without seeing their wives. On the night before Christmas, they were all inside sitting by the fireplace and drinking rum. Suddenly one man started thinking out loud and said to the other guys how much he wished he could see his wife. Another one replied saying that he would be prepared to do anything to see his wife again one day. Then one last man said, “I know what we could do, something that would allow us to see our wives! All you have to do is bring a canoe and put it on top of our camp and get onboard. I’ll be in charge. So the men did exactly what he asked.

Once everything was in place and the men were all sitting in the canoe the last man came and took his place at its head and started calling the devil. And the devil came and asked for the reason for his presence. The man at the head of the canoe asked the devil to give their canoe the power to bring them home to see their wives. So the devil did what he had been asked to do but told them that it was only for one night and one day and for the duration of the journey they were not allowed to swear at any cost nor hit the steeple of any church they might meet on their way or they would lose their soul forever.

The canoe started flying very fast just above the forest, so it was understandably a bumpy ride. It took every strength they had not to swear. Then came the moment where they could finally see the lights of their village and they also realized they were going directly in the direction of the church’s steeple and they soon realized there was nothing they could do to avoid the steeple and so they hit it. They completely destroyed the steeple, but nothing happened … So they went home and enjoyed a nice time with their wives and when the time came they took the canoe back again and returned to the camp in the wood. But the devil was waiting for the men in the camp. And they’ve never been seen again.