Audiobook 3 French Short Stories by Gustave Flaubert. Herodias, The Dance of death and The Legend of Saint Julian The Hospitalier, 3 french short stories by Gustave Flaubert. Dance of Death is a prose poem in which Death laments over the cruel task God has given him. Engaging in a dialogue with Satan, and later Nero as one of Satan's first minions, Death suggests that of the two of them, Satan has the more enviable lot, as his work will one day be done and he will have rest.