A knife grinder who only works for hated nobles uses blood on the grindstone to curse the blades so that they will kill with a mind of their own. When he is arrested on suspicion because he is in the area of the stabbing, the jail cook uses the grindstone to sharpen the knife that the grinder will use for his jail meal, and the grinder stabs himself to death with it.; A man spends twenty years looking for a book that will make the Devil his slave, but he doesn't know that Satan has joined his expedition to make sure he acquires the book first.; Two circus performers despise each other so one makes it so the highwire snaps and the other drains the water out of the barrel underneath the plunge.