Book III Summary

Stanza 1: Maldoror and his friend, Mario, are traveling on horseback very quickly through a winter storm. They pass a fisherman who believes they are the two brothers of some well-known legend in those parts. The two brothers are the spirits of the earth and the sea, responsible for all kind of natural calamities like earthquakes and storms. It turns out that the fishermen is right. As they travel, Maldoror and Mario, who love one another very much, are eager to make sure the other is safe and comfortable. When Maldoror detects, or thinks that he detects, some sadness in Mario, the spirit of the Earth, Mario responds by saying that he is not sad but admits that is weary of life. However, he does not end his life because he has decided to make it a sustained act of vengeance against...