on the
fire-surrounded rock, he wins her.

III. NERTO

In spite of its utter unreality _Nerto_ is a charming tale, written in a
sprightly vein, with here and there a serious touch, reminding the
reader frequently of Ariosto. The Devil, the Saints, and the Angels
figure in it prominently; but the Devil is not a very terrible personage
in Provence, and the Angels are entirely lacking in Miltonic grandeur.
The scene of the story is laid in the time of Benedict XIII, who was
elected Pope at Avignon in 1394. The story offers a lively picture of
the papal court, reminding the reader forcibly of the description found
in Daudet's famous tale of the Pope's mule. It is filled throughout with
legends relating to the Devil, and with superstitious beliefs of the
Middle Age. It is not always easy to determine when the poet is serious
in his statement of religious belief, occasionally he appears to be so,
and then a line or so shows us that he has a legend in mind. In the
prologue of the poem he says:--

"Creire, coundus a la vitori.
Douta, vaqui l' endourmitori
E la pouisoun dins lou barrieu
E la lachuslo dins lou rieu."

To believe leads to victory. Doubt is the narcotic, and the poison
in the barrel, and the euphorbia in the stream.

"E, quand lou pople a perdu fe,
L'infer abrivo si boufet."

And when the people have lost faith,
Hell sets its bellows blowing.

Then later we read: "What is this world? A wager between Christ and the
Demon. Thousands of years ago he challenged God, and when the great game
began, they played with great loose rocks from the hills, at quoits, and
if any one is unwilling to believe this, let him go to Mount Leberon and
see the stone thrown by Satan."

So we see that the theology was merely a means of leading up to a local
legend.

The story is briefly as follows: Nerto, like all Mistral's heroines, is
exceedingly young, thirteen years of age. Her father, the Baron Pons,
had gambled away everything he owned in this world, when she was a very
little child, and while walking along a lonely road one night he met the
Devil, who took advantage of his despair to tempt him with the sight of
heaps of money. The wretched father sold his daughter's soul to the Evil
One. Now on his death-bed he tells his child the fearful tale; one means
of salvation lies open for her--she must go to the Pope. Benedict XIII
is besieged in the great palace at Avignon, but the B