Godfather Death - Other Media

Other Media

Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics adapted the story for one of its episodes, with a few alterations. Instead of God, an angel offers to be the godfather, and the greedy man refuses because angels traditionally reward souls in Heaven, while the man wants his son to be rich. It then cuts to Death. Another difference is the end, the protagonist is disgusted with the tricks from the start, and sacrifices himself to save a child princess, delaying Death and allowing her to get better.

The Storyteller featured an episode heavily inspired by this story. In that telling the man isn't Death's Godson, but has the same trick of healing people if death is at their head and being unable if at their feet. In that version he traps Death in a sack when he sees him at his own feet.

Andrew Peters's Strange and Spooky Stories contains an Irish variant in which a girl makes a deal with Death to become a doctor. She betrays him to save the life of a prince, who marries her. Unlike the Grimm's version, there is a happy ending. On her wedding night, Death takes her to the afterlife and shows an hourglass that represents her life, and it shows that she will die in a few hours. She is able to trick Death into falling asleep, and then fills up her hourglass (and her husband's) to the point where they are now immortal.

A similar story exists in some cultures and countries, such as Mexico and Lithuania, where Death is portrayed as female, becoming the child's godmother instead of his godfather. In at least the Mexican variant of this story, Death's godson does not come to her because it is nearing his time to die and is allowed to die, but when he falls in love with a woman, his godmother tries to warn him away from her. When he insists she explain why, she takes him to her cave in which the candles that represent all of the lives of all of humanity burn, and shows him that the candle that represents his lover's life is much shorter than his. While at first he insist it will not matter to him, when her time comes, he betrays his promise and uses the magical powers Death gave him to extend her life. In a rage, Death comes to punish him, but shows mercy to him... of a cruel sort. She blows out both her godson's candle and that of his lover, so they die at exactly the same instant.