[korethr]

The passage about following the contracts to the letter and thus being able to get out of those contracts with a bit of cleverness reminds me of a similar principle in stores about faeries -- that faeries will follow their bargains with mortals to the letter. In faerie stories, this is what makes deals with faeries so risky, especially with the more malevolent ones; you never know just how your words will be twisted against your intentions and desires.

I wonder how much of the to-the-letter aspect of demonic contracts borrows from the older European folk stories of faeries, or whether it is the opposite -- the to-the-letter aspect of deals with faeries being a medieval Christian projection upon those stories.