"Good; do you begin," said the arch fiend.
The archangel dived and brought up some sand between his teeth from the bottom of the sea.
It was now the other's turn to dive; but the archfiend was afraid that, during his absence, the archangel might fly away with the sun. Suddenly a thought struck him. He spat upon the ground, and a magpie arose out of it. This bird was to keep watch over the sun while the archfiend also made his plunge and brought up some sand from the bottom of the sea between his teeth.
As soon as the fiend had dived, the archangel made the sign of the cross with his hand, and the sea was immediately covered with ice nine ells thick. Then he seized the sun and flew away with it to heaven.
The magpie screamed with all her might. The archfiend, hearing her voice, guessed at once what had happened, and hastened back. When he came up, however, he found he could not make his way through, as the sea was frozen over. He therefore dived again to the bottom, brought up a large stone, broke the ice with it, and then rushed after the archangel.
The archangel fled through the air with the utmost speed, followed by the fiend. Just as the angel had one foot in heaven, the fiend overtook him, and with his claws, as he tried to stop him, tore off a large piece of flesh from the sole of the other foot.
