Don Camillo Takes the Devil by the Tail, by Giovanni Guareschi. Copyright © Giovanni Guareschi, 1957. Translated by Frances Frenaye. NEW YORK: Farrar, Straus, and Cudahy; 1957.
First published in Great Britain by Victor Gollancz, Ltd., 1957 under the title Don Camillo and the Devil.
Published (UK) by Penguin Books, 1962.
Reprinted (UK) 1964.
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Don Camillo and Peppone may be pushing 60, but they continue to fight their battles with the same vigor that we've seen in them over the course of the last three books. Intruders to the Little World-- from an unwanted curate with too many ideas, to Party bosses determined to bring de-Stalinization to the village-- are dispatched with the usual efficiency by the dynamic duo, who have each apparently decided that it's better the devil you know...

Notes: Like Don Camillo's Dilemma, this one isn't a translation of any particular Italian book. Its title, according to Alberto Guareschi, was chosen because it corresponds to the title of one of the stories in the collection (which must be "The Devil Swishes his Tail"). As noted above, the British call this book Don Camillo and the Devil.

And, though neither collection has nearly enough stories (esp. when one considers the 200 still untranslated from the Italian!!), it is the case that the American edition has two more stories than the British. I can't fathom why the British edition would omit "The Chest of Drawers" and "The Snowstorm," since both are very good ones, but there you are. In addition to leaving out the aforementioned tales, the Gollancz version places "The War of the Carnations" at the end of the book, after "A Speech to Go Down in History" (which ends the US version). To be honest, I'm not sure which of the two stories I think is the better "closer."
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Operation Saint Babila-- someone has sent a saint's statue to the bottom of the river...
Peppone's Pilgrimage-- on a misty, mid-November afternoon, a desperate father carries his sick child to a place of Help
The New Look-- Stalin is yesterday's hero, but Peppone's not ready to let go of the past
The Case of the Disappearing Dog-- Don Camillo's dog Thunder has disappeared, and Smilzo knows more than he's telling
Victims of War-- Milco cannot face the annual visit if Sergeant Fritz' widow
Stranded in the Stratosphere-- Don Camillo and Peppone have a wild ride on a carnival carousel
The Rains Came-- Peppone blames the world's weather patterns on American atomic energy
Made in U.S.S.R.-- Don Camillo gets a new film projector; then Peppone one-ups him with a Russian-made television
Inflation in the Po Valley-- there's trouble when several of the village's most prominent citizens buy on the installment plan
The Devil Swishes His Tail-- the Michaelmas carnival site is too close to the church, but can Peppone afford to move it?
Ring out the Old, Ring in the New -- Don Camillo is assigned the renovation of an old church; will it become his new parish?
The New Curate-- the new curate, Don Gildo, is full of ideas, but Don Camillo would rather he thought with his feet
The Champion-- not even for the sake of the village's honor can cycling expert Renzo be persuaded to go on a TV quiz show
The Carburetor-- Peppone is galled by the publicity over a sick Italian child saved with American medicine
The Closed Gate-- Marco Stocci is haunted by his too-harsh treatment of his daughter Gisa
Lullaby-- in Peppone's household and others, politics divides husband and wife
Togo the Bull-- a bull is felled by a machine-gun, but who fired it?
A Poacher's Penance-- to fulfill a New Year's pledge, Don Camillo's got to come up with 22 game birds to give to the poor
An Exchange of Courtesies-- how far will Don Camillo go not to purchase anything from the People's Co-operative?
The War of the Carnations-- in this story, "Romeo and Juliet" meets O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi"
The Chest of Drawers -- Don Camillo and Peppone help divide the widow Noemi's estate among her greedy descendents
The Snowstorm-- the snow weighs heavy on the roof of the People's Palace
A Speech to Go Down in History-- the election is coming, and Peppone has lost the text of his big speech