The Master and His Pupil is an English fairy tale

Fairy tale

A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

 collected by Joseph Jacobs

Joseph Jacobs

Joseph Jacobs was a folklorist, literary critic and historian. His works included contributions to the Jewish Encyclopaedia, translations of European works, and critical editions of early English literature...

in his English Fairy Tales.

Synopsis

A learned man had a book in which he had the knowledge to control demons. His foolish pupil one day found it open and read a spell from it. Beezlebub appeared and demanded a task from him, or he would strangle him. The pupil set him to watering a flower, but Beezlebub went on watering it until the room was filling with water. At that point, the man, having remembered he left his book unlocked, returned and dispelled Beezlebub.