Parabola's Winter 1981 issue: Demons When people leave free choice, the demons appear. The demons are in a way the dark side of nature which we choose. If we stop completely believing in our power, then other powers can come upon us. In other words, the demon to me is a negative side of free choice. But we have free choice in every time of our life, in every minute of our day, so we can always choose. Even if we have a bad choice to make, there is always something which is better than the other. --from "Demons by Choice," an interview with Isaac Bashevis Singer Cover: Detail from The Temptation of St. Anthony by Grvºnewald Isenheimer Altar Museum Unterlinden, Colmar In this issue:

• "A Balinese Faust" by J. Stephen Lansing
  - The selling of souls
• "The Evil Snake" by Maria Dermovªt
  - A story
• "Misunderstanding" by Chinua Achebe
  - A poem
• "The Tao and Mother Goose" by Robert Carter
  - Nursery rhymes and monsters
• "The Children of Vietnam" by Francelia Butler
  - The forces released by war
• "Daimons and the Inner Companion" by Marie-Louise von Franz
  - Our spirit helpers
• "Arachne" by Susan Stern
  - A story
• "Wrathful Deities" by Edwin Bernbaum
  - Transforming negative forces
• "The Bogeyman" by Dina Buzzati
  - A story
• "Demons by Choice"
  - An interview with Isaac Bashevis Singer
• "Sermons to the Dead" by C. G. Jung
  - A vision

Tangents - Reviews

• "From Shaman to Shooting Star" by D. M. Dooling
  - The strange transformation of don Juan
• "Too Many Sides to Count" by Lynda Sexon
  - The many worlds of Maurice Sendak
• "Maria Sabina and the Saint Children" by Barbara G. Myerhoff
  - The autobiography of a shaman

Epicycles - Traditional stories from around the world

• "Bo-Ki" / Japanese retold by Paul Jordan-Smith
• "The Fox and the Buffalo" / Pawnee (Native American) retold by Brian Swann
• "Tzarevna Lyagushka II" / Russian retold by Ann Himler
• "Blue-Throat" / Hindu retold by Paul Jordan-Smith
• "King Solomon and Asmodeus, King of Demons" / Jewish retold by Howard Schwartz