There was once, it may be now many hundred years ago, a good old fisherman, who was sitting one fine evening before his door, mending his nets. The part of the country in which he lived was extremely pretty.The greensward, on which his cottage stood, ran far into the lake, and it seemed as if it was from love for the blue clear waters that the tongue of land had stretched itself out into them, while with an equally fond embrace the lake had encircled the green pasture rich with waving grass and fowers, and the refreshing shade of trees.The one welcomed the other, and it was just this that made each so beautiful.There were indeed few human beings, or rather none at all, to be met with on this pleasant spot, except the fsherman and his family.For at the back of this little promontory there lay a very wild forest, which, both from its gloom and pathless solitude as well as from the wonderful creatures and illusions with which it was said to abound, was avoided by most people except in cases of necessity.The pious old fisherman, however, passed through it many a time undisturbed, when he was taking the choice fsh, which he had caught at his beautiful home, to a large town situated not far from the confnes of the forest.The principal reason why it was so easy for him to pass through this forest was because the tone of his thoughts was almost entirely of a religious character, and besides this, whenever he set foot upon the evil reputed shades, he was wont to sing some holy song, with a clear voice and a sincere heart.
While sitting over his nets this evening, unsuspicious of any evil, a sudden fear came upon him, at the sound of a rustling in the gloom of the forest, as of a horse and rider, the noise approaching nearer and nearer to the little promontory. All that he had dreamed, in many a stormy night, of the mysteries of the forest, now fashed at once through his mind；foremost of all, the image of a gigantic snow-white man, who kept unceasingly nodding his head in a portentous manner.Indeed, when he raised his eyes toward the wood it seemed to him as if he actually saw the nodding man approaching through the dense foliage.He soon, however, reassured himself, reflecting that nothing serious had ever befallen him even in the forest itself, and that upon this open tongue of land the evil spirit would be still less daring in the exercise of his power.At the same time he repeated aloud a text from the Bible with all his heart, and this so inspired him with courage that he almost smiled at the illusion he had allowed to possess him.
The white nodding man was suddenly transformed into a brook long familiar to him, which ran foaming from the forest and discharged itself into the lake. The noise, however, which he had heard, was caused by a knight beautifully apparelled, who, emerging from the deep shadows of the wood, came riding toward the cottage.A scarlet mantle was thrown over his purple gold-embroidered doublet；a red and violet plume waved from his golden-colored head-gear；and a beautifully and richly ornamented sword fashed from his shoulder-belt.The white steed that bore the knight was more slenderly formed than war-horses generally are, and he stepped so lightly over the turf that this green and flowery carpet seemed scarcely to receive the slightest injury from his tread.The old fisherman did not, however, feel perfectly secure in his mind, although he tried to convince himself that no evil was to be feared from so graceful an apparition；and therefore he politely took off his hat as the knight approached, and remained quietly with his nets.Presently the stranger drew up, and inquired whether he and his horse could have shelter and care for the night.
“As regards your horse, good sir,”replied the fisherman.“I can assign him no better stable than this shady pasture, and no better provender than the grass growing on it. Yourself, however, I will gladly welcome to my small cottage, and give you supper and lodging as good as we have.”
The knight was well satisfied with this；he alighted from his horse, and, with the assistance of the fsherman, he relieved it from saddle and bridle, and turned it loose upon the fowery green. Then addressing his host, he said：“Even had I found you less hospitable and kindly disposed, my worthy old fisherman, you would nevertheless scarcely have got rid of me to-day, for, as I see, a broad lake lies before us, and to ride back into that mysterious wood, with the shades of evening coming on, heaven keep me from it!”
“We will not talk too much of that,”said the fsherman, and he led his guest into the cottage.
There, beside the hearth, from which a scanty fre shed a dimlight through the cleanly-kept room, sat the fsherman's aged wife in a capacious chair. At the entrance of the noble guest she rose to give him a kindly welcome, but resumed her seat of honor without offering it to the stranger.Upon this the fsherman said with a smile：“You must not take it amiss of her, young sir, that she has not given up to you the most comfortable seat in the house；it is a custom among poor people, that it should belong exclusively to the aged.”
“Why, husband,”said the wife, with a quiet smile,“what can you be thinking of?Our guest belongs no doubt to Christian men, and how could it come into the head of the good young blood to drive old people from their chairs?Take a seat, my young master,”she continued, turning toward the knight；“over there, there is a right pretty little chair, only you must not move about on it too roughly, for one of its legs is no longer of the frmest.”
The knight fetched the chair carefully, sat down upon it good-humoredly, and it seemed to him as if he were related to this little household, and had just returned from abroad.
The three worthy people now began to talk together in the most friendly and familiar manner. With regard to the forest, about which the knight made some inquiries, the old man was not inclined to be communicative；he felt it was not a subject suited to approaching night, but the aged couple spoke freely of their home and former life, and listened also gladly when the knight recounted to them his travels, and told them that he had a castle near the source of the Danube, and that his name was Sir Huldbrand of Ringstetten.
During the conversation, the stranger had already occasionally heard a splash against the little low window, as if some one weresprinkling water against it. Every time the noise occurred, the old man knit his brow with displeasure；but when at last a whole shower was dashed against the panes, and bubbled into the room through the decayed casement, he rose angrily, and called threateningly from the window：“Undine!will you for once leave off these childish tricks?and to-day, besides, there is a stranger knight with us in the cottage.”
All was silent without, only a suppressed laugh was audible, and the fsherman said as he returned：“You must pardon it in her, my honored guest, and perhaps many a naughty trick besides；but she means no harm by it. It is our foster-child, Undine, and she will not wean herself from this childishness, although she has already entered her eighteenth year.But, as I said, at heart she is thoroughly good.”
“You may well talk,”replied the old woman, shaking her head；“when you come home from fshing or from a journey, her frolics may then be very delightful, but to have her about one the whole day long, and never to hear a sensible word, and instead of fnding her a help in the housekeeping as she grows older, always to be obliged to be taking care that her follies do not completely ruin us, that is quite another thing, and the patience of a saint would be worn out at last.”
“Well, well,”said her husband with a smile,“you have your troubles with Undine, and I have mine with the lake. It often breaks away my dams, and tears my nets to pieces, but for all that, I have an affection for it, and so have you for the pretty child, in spite of all your crosses and vexations.Isn't it so?”
“One can't be very angry with her, certainly,”said the old woman, and she smiled approvingly.
Just then the door flew open, and a beautiful, fair girl glided laughing into the room, and said“You have only been jesting, father, for where is your guest?”
At the same moment, however, she perceived the knight, and stood fixed with astonishment before the handsome youth, Huldbrand was struck with her charming appearance, and dwelt the more earnestly on her lovely features, as he imagined it was only her surprise that gave him this brief enjoyment, and that she would presently turn from his gaze with increased bashfulness. It was, however, quite otherwise；for after having looked at him for some time, she drew near him confidingly, knelt down before him, and said, as she played with a gold medal which he wore on his breast, suspended from a rich chain：“Why, you handsome, kind guest, how have you come to our poor cottage at last?Have you been obliged then to wander through the world for years, before you could fnd your way to us?Do you come out of that wild forest, my beautiful knight?”The old woman's reproof allowed him no time for reply.She admonished the girl to stand up and behave herself and to go to her work.Undine, however, without making any answer drew a little footstool close to Huldbrand's chair, sat down upon it with her spinning, and said pleasantly：“I will work here.”The old man did as parents are wont to do with spoiled children.He affected to observe nothing of Undine's naughtiness and was beginning to talk of something else.But this the girl would not let him do；she said：“I have asked our charming guest whence he comes, and he has not yet answered me.”
“I come from the forest, you beautiful little vision,”returnedHuldbrand；and she went on to say：—
“Then you must tell me how you came there, for it is usually so feared, and what marvellous adventures you met with in it, for it is impossible to escape without something of the sort.”
Huldbrand felt a slight shudder at this remembrance, and looked involuntarily toward the window, for it seemed to him as if one of the strange figures he had encountered in the forest were grinning in there；but he saw nothing but the deep dark night, which had now shrouded everything without. Upon this he composed himself and was on the point of beginning his little history, when the old man interrupted him by saying：“Not so, sir knight!this is no ft hour for such things.”Undine, however, sprang angrily from her little stool, and standing straight before the fsherman with her fair arms fxed in her sides, she exclaimed：“He shall not tell his story, father?He shall not?but it is my will.He shall!He shall in spite of you!”and thus saying she stamped her pretty little foot vehemently on the foor, but she did it all with such a comically graceful air that Huldbrand now felt his gaze almost more riveted upon her in her anger than before in her gentleness.
The restrained wrath of the old man, on the contrary, burst forth violently. He severely reproved Undine's disobedience and unbecoming behavior to the stranger, and his good old wife joined with him heartily.Undine quickly retorted：“If you want to chide me, and won't do what I wish, then sleep alone in your old smoky hut!”and swift as an arrow she few from the room, and fed into the dark night.