In the short story, The Devil and Tom Walker by Washington Irving , the theme is teaching us that being greedy or selfish can leave you with regret This theme is illustrated in the story when it says "’Tom, you're come for,’ said the black fellow, gruffly. Tom shrank back, but too late. He had left his little Bible at the bottom of his coat-pocket and his big Bible on the desk buried under the mortgage he was about to foreclose: never was sinner taken more unawares. The black man whisked him like a child into the saddle, gave the horse the lash, and away he galloped, with Tom on his back, in the midst of the thunder-storm. The reason this illustrates this theme is because if he wouldn't have been greedy and made the deal with the devil, he
