One way Irving suggest that his story is really a folktale is by shifting back-and-forth between events that the narrator reports on his own account and those he attributes to hearsay by such signals as "it was asserted," "according to the old stories." Examine this in the opening paragraph
Hearsay:
Under one of these gigantic trees, according to old stories, there was a great amount of treasure buried by Kidd the pirate.
"..... for the common people had a bad opinion of it, from the stories handed down from the times of the Indian wars, when it was asserted that the savages held incantations here and made sacrifices to the Evil Spirit."
Facts:
The old stories add, moreover, that the devil presided at the hiding of the money, and took it under his guardianship; but this, it is well known, he always does with buried treasure, particularly when it has been ill-gotten.
About the year 1727, just at the time that earthquakes were prevalent in New England, and shook many tall sinners down upon their knees, there lived near this place a meagre, miserly fellow, of the name of Tom Walker. He had a wife as miserly as himself; they were so miserly that they even conspired to cheat each other.
Tom's wife was a tall termagant, fierce of temper, loud of tongue, and strong of arm. Her voice was often heard in wordy warfare with her husband; and his face sometimes showed signs that their conflicts were not confined to words. No one ventured, however, to interfere between them.
The Devil and Tom Walker
