Day 23: It has everything you want in a story

Continuing my answering parts of Susanne's question:

Favorite story in the Bible: Easy peasy. The Book of Tobit.

It's one of the Old Testament books that the Protestant Bibles leave out but is in the Catholic and Orthodox canons.

It has it all - love, mystery, a quest, demons and angels.

Tobit is a Jew living in Ninevah. He goes blind and sends his son Tobias off to collect a sum of money in Media. The archangel Raphael, disguised as a human, accompanies Tobias to Media, helping him along the way.

Meanwhile, Sarah, a cousin of Tobias, is tormented by the demon Asmodeus. The demon kills every man who Sarah marries on their wedding night before the marriage can be consummated. It's not entirely clear in the story - but I get the impression that Sarah herself was possessed by the demon but others have it that the demon just hung around and popped up when the wedding night was about to happen.

Tobias, under Raphael's direction, goes and meets Sarah and arranges to marry her. On their wedding night, Raphael helps Tobias drive Asmodeus out to Egypt where Raphael follows and binds the demon.

Sarah's father, having secretly dug an eighth grave because he's sure Tobias isn't coming out of the bridal chamber alive, is shocked and thrilled when both Tobias and Sarah emerge the next morning. They proceed to celebrate for so long that Tobias sends Raphael to collect his fathers' money, still believing that Raphael is just another human being.

In the end, Tobias returns to his family with his new wife, cures his fathers' blindness under Raphael's instruction and escapes the destruction of Ninevah due to his fathers' advice.