Epigraph
“Mortal, mock not at the Devil,
Life is short and soon will fail,
And the ‘fire everlasting’
Is no idle fairy-tale.”
—Heine.
Note
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.
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.