Devil Stories An Anthology   By: Various

AN ANTHOLOGY

SELECTED AND EDITED WITH INTRODUCTION AND CRITICAL COMMENTS

BY MAXIMILIAN J. RUDWIN

"Mortal, mock not at the Devil, Life is short and soon will fail, And the 'fire everlasting' Is no idle fairy tale." HEINE.

NEW YORK

ALFRED · A · KNOPF

MCMXXI

COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEVIL LORE

ANTHOLOGIES OF DIABOLICAL LITERATURE EDITED BY MAXIMILIAN J. RUDWIN

I. DEVIL STORIES [First Series]

In Preparation:

DEVIL PLAYS DEVIL ESSAYS DEVIL LEGENDS THE BOOK OF LADY LILITH ANTHOLOGY OF SATANIC VERSE BIBLIOGRAPHIA DIABOLICA

BOOKS BY MAXIMILIAN J. RUDWIN

The Prophet and Disputation Scenes in the Religious Drama of the German Middle Ages.

The Devil Scenes in the Religious Drama of the German Middle Ages.

The Devil in the German Religious Plays of the Middle Ages and the Reformation. [Hesperia: Johns Hopkins Studies in Modern Philology, No. 6.]

The Origin of the German Carnival Comedy.

In Preparation:

The Devil in Modern French Literature.

TO ALL STUDENTS OF THE SUPERNATURAL IN LITERATURE

NOTE

The preparation of this book would have been out of the question without the co operation of authors and publishers. Proper acknowledgment has been given on the first page of each selection to the publishers who have granted us permission to reprint it. We take this opportunity to express once more our deep appreciation of the courtesies extended to us by all the parties concerned in the material between the covers of this book. Special thanks are offered to Mr. John Masefield for his permission to republish his story, and to Messrs. Arthur Symons and Leo Wiener and to Miss Isabel F. Hapgood for their permission to use their translations of the foreign stories which we have selected. To Professor Henry Alfred Todd and Dr. Dorothy Scarborough, of Columbia University, who have kindly read portions of the manuscript, the editor is indebted for a number of helpful suggestions. He adds his thanks to Professor Raymond Weeks, also of Columbia University, who called his attention to the Daudet story, and to his former colleague, Professor Otto A. Greiner, of Purdue University, who was good enough to read part of the proofs.

THE PUBLISHER. THE EDITOR.

CONTENTS

THE DEVIL IN A NUNNERY 1 A Mediaeval Tale By Francis Oscar Mann

BELPHAGOR, OR THE MARRIAGE OF THE DEVIL (1549) 14 From the Italian of Niccolò Machiavelli

THE DEVIL AND TOM WALKER (1824) 28 By Washington Irving

FROM THE MEMOIRS OF SATAN (1828) 46 From the German of Wilhelm Hauff

ST. JOHN'S EVE (1830) 56 From the Russian of Nikolái Vasilévich Gógol Translated by Isabel F. Hapgood

THE DEVIL'S WAGER (1833) 79 By William Makepeace Thackeray

THE PAINTER'S BARGAIN (1834) 93 By William Makepeace Thackeray

BON BON (1835) 112 By Edgar Allan Poe

THE PRINTER'S DEVIL (1836) 136 Anonymous

THE DEVIL'S MOTHER IN LAW (1859) 149 From the Spanish by Fernán Caballero Translated by J. H. Ingram

THE GENEROUS GAMBLER (1864) 162 From the French of Charles Pierre Baudelaire Translated by Arthur Symons

THE THREE LOW MASSES (1869) 167 A Christmas Story From the French of Alphonse Daudet Translated by Robert Routeledge

DEVIL PUZZLERS (1871) 179 By Frederick Beecher Perkins

THE DEVIL'S ROUND (1874) 203 A Tale of Flemish Golf From the French of Charles Deulin Translated by Isabel Bruce With an introductory note by Andrew Lang

THE LEGEND OF MONT ST. MICHEL (1888) 222 From the French of Guy de Maupassant

THE DEMON POPE (1888) 228 By Richard Garnett

MADAM LUCIFER (1888) 242 By Richard Garnett

LUCIFER (1895) 250 From the French of Anatole France Translated by Alfred Allinson

THE DEVIL (1899) 257 From the Russian of Maxím Gorky Translated by Leo Wiener

THE DEVIL AND THE OLD MAN (1905) 268 By John Masefield

NOTES 279

INDEX 325

INTRODUCTION