UNDINE IS LOST
Huldbrand and the fisherman sprang after the maiden, but when they
reached the door of the cottage and looked out into the night she was
nowhere to be seen, nor could they catch the sound of her tiny feet to
guide them whither she had fled.
The knight looked in astonishment at his host. Was the beautiful
maiden only another of the wonderful beings who had bewildered him in
the forest? Was she some lovely elf or sprite who had come but to vex
them with her pranks?
But as he looked at the old man standing by his side, and saw the
tears streaming from his eyes, he knew it was for no spirit of the
wood that he thus grieved.
'Alas,' sighed the fisherman, 'this is not the first time that the
maiden has treated us thus. It may be she will not return the
livelong night, and until she returns it is not possible that we
should close our eyes. For what terror may not seize upon her as she
wanders hither and thither in the darkness.'
'We must follow her, father, follow her without delay!' cried the
young knight.
'Nay,' answered the fisherman, 'my limbs are stiff. Though I knew
whither she had fled, I could never follow with speed enough to reach
her. Ever she would vanish as I drew near, for she is fleet, fleet as
an arrow from the bow.'
'If we may not follow her, at least let us call and entreat her to
return,' said the young knight, and without waiting for an answer he
called, 'Undine! Undine!'
But the old man shook his head. 'It is useless to call,' he said, 'the
little one will not heed your voice.' Yet still the knight's cry rang
out into the night, 'Undine, dear Undine, I pray you return!'
No answer came back from the darkness, and at length Huldbrand
returned with the fisherman to the cottage.
The old woman, who seemed little troubled by Undine's flight, had gone
to bed and the fire was wellnigh out. But the fisherman, drawing the
ashes together, placed wood on the top of them, and soon the fire
blazed brightly.
Then in the light of the flames they sat and talked, yet they thought
only of Undine. The window rattled. They raised their heads to listen.
The rain fell in heavy drops, pitter, patter. They thought it was the
tread of tiny feet.
'It is she, it is Undine!' they would cry, yet still the maiden did
not come. Then they shook their heads sadly, but as they went on
talking they listened still.
'It was fifteen years ago, on such a night of wind and rain, that she
came,' murmured the old man. 'Our home was sad and desolate, for we
had lost our own little child.'
'Ah,' said the knight, 'tell me how the beautiful maiden came to your
little cottage.'
Now this is the story the fisherman told to the knight.
'It is fifteen years ago,' began the old man, 'since I went through
the forest, hoping to sell my fish in the city beyond. I was alone,
for my wife was at home watching our little babe. Our little babe was
dear to us and very fair.
'In the evening, having sold all my fish, I went home through the
haunted forest, nor did I fear its gloom, for the Lord was at my
right hand.
'But no sooner had I left the wood than I saw my wife running toward
me, while tears streamed from her eyes. She had dressed herself, I
noticed, in black garments, and this she was not used to do. I felt
sure that trouble had befallen us.
'"Where is our child, our little one?" I cried, though even as I spoke
my voice was choked with sobs.
'"Our child is with God, the great Father," answered my wife.
'Then in the midst of her tears the poor mother told her sad tale.
'"I took our child down to the edge of the lake, and there we played
together, so happy, so merry. Suddenly the little one bent forward as
though she saw something beautiful in the water. Then she smiled, and
stretched out her tiny hands, and even as she did so, she slipped from
my arms into the lake, and I saw her no more."
'That evening,' said the fisherman, 'my wife and I sat by our hearth
in silence, we were too sad for words. Suddenly the door of our
cottage flew open, and there before us,[1] on the threshold, stood a
little maiden, three or four years of age. Her eyes were blue and her
hair was gold and she was clothed in beautiful garments.
[Footnote 1: See frontispiece.]
'We gazed in wonder at the tiny vision. Who was she? From whence had
she come? Was she only a magic child come to mock us in our
loneliness, or was she a real, a living child?
'Then as we looked we saw that water trickled from her golden hair and
that little streams were gathering at her tiny feet, as the water
dripped and dripped from her beautiful clothing.
'"She must have fallen into the lake," I said to my wife, "and in some
strange way have wandered into our cottage. We have lost our own dear
child, let us now do all we can to help this little one." Thus it came
to pass that the little stranger slept in the cot in which until now
our own babe had lain.
'When morning dawned my wife fed our tiny guest with bread and milk,
and the little one looked upon us, and her blue eyes danced merrily,
but never a word did she say.
'We asked her where her father and mother dwelt and how she had come
to our cottage. But her only answer was some childish talk of crystal
palaces and shining pearls. Even now indeed she speaks of things so
marvellous that we know not what to think.
'After some days we asked her once again from whence she came. She
told us that she had been on the sea with her mother, and had fallen
from her arms into the water, nor had she known more until she awoke
under the trees, close to our cottage, so well pleased with the fair
shore that she felt no fear.
'Then we said, "Let us keep the little stranger, and care for her as
we would have cared for our own lost child." We sent for a priest, who
baptized her, giving her the name by which she called herself, though
indeed it seemed no name for a Christian child.
'"Undine," said the priest as he performed the holy rite, while she,
the little one, stood before him gentle and sweet. No sooner, however,
was the service ended than she grew wild, wilful as was her way. For
it is true that my wife has had much trouble with the maiden--'
At that moment the knight interrupted the fisherman.
'Listen,' he cried, 'how the stream roars as it dashes past the
window!'
Together they sprang to the door. The moon had risen, and the knight
and the fisherman saw that the stream which ran from the wood had
burst its banks. It was now rushing wildly along, carrying with it
stones and roots of trees. As they looked, the clouds grew dark and
crept across the face of the moon, the wind rose and lashed the water
of the lake into great waves.
'Undine! Undine!' cried the two men together, but no answer reached
them save the shrieking of the wind among the trees of the forest.
Then, careless of the storm, the fisherman and the knight rushed from
the cottage in search of the maiden.