Note: DO NOT MERGE with the other record titled "The Countess Cathleen." This is the final revision of the play, printed in 1912. A very different version had been published in 1892, and another revised version in the editions of Yeats's Poems 1895-1908.

Synopsis: In Ireland, centuries ago, a village is starving. Two devils disguised as merchants arrive and offer to buy the villagers' souls for gold, which most of them are willing to agree with. The local countess, Cathleen, has just arrived back in the area; appalled, she spends her own money for shipments of grain and cattle, trying to prevent this. The devils steal the food and tell Cathleen that the only way she can save the villagers is to give them her own soul (very valuable because it's so pure). She agrees, concludes the deal, and dies broken-hearted.