HULDBRAND AND BERTALDA
When he recovered, the knight of Ringstetten went back to his castle
with Bertalda. So bitterly did he mourn the loss of his gentle wife,
that at length he began to believe that he would never cease to weep
for her. Bertalda wept by his side, and for a long time they lived
quietly together, thinking and talking of none save the beautiful
Undine.
But as the months passed by, Huldbrand began to think a little less
and yet a little less of his beautiful lost wife.
Now about this time the old fisherman appeared at the castle. He had
come to tell the knight that it was time that his daughter Bertalda
should come to live with him in his lonely cottage by the lake.
Then the knight began to think how strange and silent it would be in
the castle if Bertalda left him. The more he thought about it the
more he disliked the thought of being left alone.
At length he spoke to the fisherman and begged him not to take
Bertalda away. 'Let her stay with me and be my wife,' said the knight.
And in time the fisherman yielded to the wishes of the knight, and the
wedding-day was fixed.
Then a letter was sent to Father Heilman, begging him to come without
delay to the castle that he might perform the wedding-rite between the
knight and the lady Bertalda. Now Father Heilman was the very priest
who had wedded Huldbrand to Undine in the cottage by the lake.
When the priest had read Huldbrand's letter he hastened at once to the
castle.
Huldbrand and Bertalda were sitting side by side under the trees, the
fisherman near them, when they saw the priest enter the court.
They all rose eagerly to welcome him, but Father Heilman began to
speak without delay.
'Sir Knight, I have come with as great haste as my old limbs would
carry me to tell you that I do not believe the beautiful Undine is
dead. Last night and for many nights before, she was with me in my
dreams, wringing her white hands, and crying, "Ah, holy Father, I
live, I live. Let not Huldbrand forget me, for should he wed again
great danger may, alas, come to him, nor will I have power to shield
him. Help me, therefore, holy Father." What the dream meant I knew not
until your letter reached me. Now have I come, not to marry you to
Bertalda, but to tell you that Undine, your wife, is yet alive.'
The knight himself, as well as Bertalda and the fisherman, believed in
their hearts that what the priest said was true, yet would they not
own that they believed his words. Even the old fisherman, who so
dearly loved his foster-child, thought that as the marriage with
Bertalda had been arranged, it were well it should take place without
more delay.
They all, therefore, refused to listen to the priest, when he
reproached them for their conduct. They even told him, what was not
really true, that they did not believe his foolish dreams.
Sadly shaking his head, the priest left the castle. He saw that should
he speak again no one would listen to his words. Nor would he linger
to taste any of the refreshments that were placed before him. He had
failed to make any one believe his dream, and he was too sad to eat.
The following morning the knight sent to the nearest monastery for a
priest, who promised to wed him to Bertalda in a few days.