HOW THE KNIGHT TOOK HIS YOUNG WIFE WITH HIM.
When Huldbrand awoke from his sleep on the following morning, and
missed his beautiful wife from his side, he began to indulge again
in the strange thoughts, that his marriage and the charming Undine
herself were but fleeting and deceptive illusions. But at the same
moment she entered the room, sat down beside him, and said: "I have
been out rather early to see if my uncle keeps his word. He has
already led all the waters back again into his own calm channel, and
he now flows through the forest, solitarily and dreamily as before.
His friends in the water and the air have also returned to repose:
all will again go on quietly and regularly, and you can travel
homeward when you will, dry-shod." It seemed to Huldbrand as though
he were in a waking dream, so little could he reconcile himself to
the strange relationship of his wife. Nevertheless he made no
remark on the matter, and the exquisite grace of his bride soon
lulled to rest every uneasy misgiving. When he was afterward
standing before the door with her, and looking over the green
peninsula with its boundary of clear waters, he felt so happy
in this cradle of his love, that he exclaimed: "Why shall we
travel so soon as to-day? We shall scarcely find more pleasant days
in the world yonder than those we have spent in this quiet little
shelter. Let us yet see the sun go down here twice or thrice more."
"As my lord wills," replied Undine, humbly. "It is only that the old
people will, at all events, part from me with pain, and when they
now for the first time perceive the true soul within me, and how I
can now heartily love and honor, their feeble eyes will be dimmed
with plentiful tears. At present they consider my quietness and
gentleness of no better promise than before, like the calmness of
the lake when the air is still; and, as matters now are, they will
soon learn to cherish a flower or a tree as they have cherished me.
Do not, therefore, let me reveal to them this newly-bestowed and
loving heart, just at the moment when they must lose it for this
world; and how could I conceal it, if we remain longer together?"
Huldbrand conceded the point; he went to the aged people and talked
with them over the journey, which he proposed to undertake
immediately. The holy father offered to accompany the young married
pair, and, after a hasty farewell, he and the knight assisted the
beautiful bride to mount her horse, and walked with rapid step by
her side over the dry channel of the forest-stream into the wood
beyond. Undine wept silently but bitterly, and the old people gave
loud expression to their grief. It seemed as if they had a
presentiment of all they were now losing in their foster-child.
The three travellers had reached in silence the densest shades of
the forest. It must have been a fair sight, under that green canopy
of leaves, to see Undine's lovely form, as she sat on her noble and
richly ornamented steed, with the venerable priest in the white garb
of his order on one side of her, and on the other the blooming young
knight in his gay and splendid attire, with his sword at his girdle.
Huldbrand had no eyes but for his beautiful wife Undine, who had
dried her tears, had no eyes but for him, and they soon fell into a
mute, voiceless converse of glance and gesture, from which they were
only roused at length by the low talking of the reverend father with
a fourth traveller, who in the mean while had joined them
unobserved.
He wore a white garment almost resembling the dress of the priests
order, except that his hood hung low over his face, and his whole
attire floated round him in such vast folds that he was obliged
every moment to gather it up, and throw it over his arm, or dispose
of it in some way, and yet it did not in the least seem to impede
his movements. When the young couple first perceived him, he was
just saying "And so, venerable sir. I have now dwelt for many years
here in the forest, and yet no one could call me a hermit, in your
sense of the word. For, as I said, I know nothing of penance, and I
do not think I have any especial need of it. I love the forest only
for this reason, that its beauty is quite peculiar to itself, and it
amuses me to pass along in my flowing white garments among the eases
and dusky shadows, while now and then a sweet sunbeam shines down
unexpectedly upon me."
"You are a very strange man," replied the priest, "and I should like
to be more closely acquainted with you."
"And to pass from one thing to another, who may you be yourself?"
asked the stranger.
"I am called Father Heilmann," said the holy man; "and I come from
the monastery of 'our Lady' which lies on the other side of the
lake."
"Indeed," replied the stranger; "my name is Kuhleborn, and so far as
courtesy is concerned I might claim the title of Lord of Kuhleborn,
or free Lord of Kuhleborn; for I am as free as the birds in the
forest and perhaps a little more so. For example, I have now
something to say to the young lady there." And before they were
aware of his intention, he was at the other side of the priest,
close beside Undine, stretching himself up to whisper something in
her ear.
But she turned from him with alarm, and exclaimed: "I have nothing
more to do with you."
"Ho, ho," laughed the stranger, "what is this immensely grand
marriage you have made, that you don't know your own relations any
longer? Have you forgotten your uncle Kuhleborn, who so faithfully
bore you on his back through this region?"
"I beg you, nevertheless," replied Undine, "not to appear in my
presence again. I am now afraid of you; and suppose my husband
should learn to avoid me when he sees me in such strange company and
with such relations!"
"My little niece," said Kuhleborn, "you must not forget that I am
with you here as a guide; the spirits of earth that haunt this place
might otherwise play some of their stupid pranks with you. Let me
therefore go quietly on with you; the old priest there remembered me
better than you appear to have done, for he assured me just now that
I seemed familiar to him, and that I must have been with him in the
boat, out of which he fell into the water. I was so, truly enough;
for I was the water-spout that carried him out of it and washed him
safely ashore for your wedding."
Undine and the knight turned toward Father Heilmann; but he seemed
walking on, as in a sort of dream, and no longer to be conscious of
all that was passing. Undine then said to Kuhleborn, "I see yonder
the end of the forest. We no longer need your help, and nothing
causes us alarm but yourself. I beg you, therefore, in all love and
good-will, vanish, and let us proceed in peace."
Kuhleborn seemed to become angry at this; his countenance assumed a
frightful expression, and he grinned fiercely at Undine, who
screamed aloud and called upon her husband for assistance. As quick
as lightning, the knight sprang to the other side of the horse, and
aimed his sharp sword at Kuhleborn's head. But the sword cut through
a waterfall, which was rushing down near them from a lofty crag; and
with a splash, which almost sounded like a burst of laughter, it
poured over them and wet them through to the skin.
The priest, as if suddenly awaking, exclaimed "I have long been
expecting that, for the stream ran down from the height so close to
us. At first it really seemed to me like a man, and as if it could
speak." As the waterfall came rushing down, it distinctly uttered
these words in Huldbrand's ear:--
"Rash knight,
Brave knight,
Rage, feel I not,
Chide, will I not.
But ever guard thy little wife as well,
Rash knight, brave knight! Protect her well!"
A few footsteps more, and they were upon open ground. The imperial
city lay bright before them, and the evening sun, which gilded its
towers, kindly dried the garments of the drenched wanderers.