L'Etranger - The Stranger

L'étranger : in French-Canadian lore, the story goes that one night a big party is going on the eve of Ash Wednesday. In catholic tradition, this day is the beginning of 40 days of penance- so no dancing past midnight!
One girl, Rose Latulipe, is swept off her feet by a stranger that appeared that night. But all is not well...
Men tending to the horses outside notice that the stranger's mount has melted snow under it, as if the horseshoes themselves were made of brimstone.
Inside, the grandmother, one of the chaperons of the evening, can't help but notice as she's reciting her rosary that the stranger glares at her with each Ave Maria spoken...
As the evening passes, and the fiddlers are jigging away, the local priest wakes up and calls for his horse : "Rose Latulipe is in mortal danger!"
As the good priest arrives, he throws himself between the girl and the stranger yelling :"Be off Satan, you are not welcome in this christian home!" And indeed Lucifer backs away and his fur hat falls revealing the devil horns hidden beneath. And with a swirl of smoke and smell of sulfur, the Dark one disappears along with his horse.
Some say Rose married her true lover, others say she hid away in a monastery to spend the rest of her life asking forgiveness for dancing with the Devil...

Charcoal, 2008