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Page 13
When at length the excess of their joy at recovering their child had
subsided, morning had already dawned, shining upon the waters of the
lake; the tempest had become hushed, the small birds sung merrily on
the moist branches.
As Undine now insisted upon hearing the recital of the knight's
promised adventures, the aged couple readily agreed to her wish.
Breakfast was brought out beneath the trees which stood behind the
cottage toward the lake on the north, and they sat down to it with
contented hearts; Undine at the knight's feet on the grass. These
arrangements being made, Huldbrand began his story in the following
manner:--
"It is now about eight days since I rode into the free imperial city
which lies yonder on the farther side of the forest. Soon after my
arrival a splendid tournament and running at the ring took place
there, and I spared neither my horse nor my lance in the encounters.
"Once while I was pausing at the lists to rest from the brisk
exercise, and was handing back my helmet to one of my attendants, a
female figure of extraordinary beauty caught my attention, as, most
magnificently attired, she stood looking on at one of the balconies.
I learned, on making inquiry of a person near me, that the name of
the young lady was Bertalda, and that she was a foster-daughter of
one of the powerful dukes of this country. She too, I observed, was
gazing at me, and the consequences were such as we young knights are
wont to experience; whatever success in riding I might have had
before, I was now favoured with still better fortune. That evening I
was Bertalda's partner in the dance, and I enjoyed the same
distinction during the remainder of the festival."
A sharp pain in his left hand, as it hung carelessly beside him, here
interrupted Huldbrand's relation, and drew his eye to the part
affected. Undine had fastened her pearly teeth, and not without some
keenness too, upon one of his fingers, appearing at the same time
very gloomy and displeased. On a sudden, however, she looked up in
his eyes with an expression of tender melancholy, and whispered
almost inaudibly,--
"It is all your own fault."
She then covered her face; and the knight, strangely embarrassed and
thoughtful, went on with his story.
"This lady, Bertalda, of whom I spoke, is of a proud and wayward
spirit. The second day I saw her she pleased me by no means so much
as she had the first, and the third day still less. But I continued
about her because she showed me more favour than she did any other
knight, and it so happened that I playfully asked her to give me one
of her gloves. 'When you have entered the haunted forest all alone,'
said she; 'when you have explored its wonders, and brought me a full
account of them, the glove is yours.' As to getting her glove, it
was of no importance to me whatever, but the word had been spoken,
and no honourable knight would permit himself to be urged to such a
proof of valour a second time."
"I thought," said Undine, interrupting him, "that she loved you."
"It did appear so," replied Huldbrand.
"Well!" exclaimed the maiden, laughing, "this is beyond belief; she
must be very stupid. To drive from her one who was dear to her!
And worse than all, into that ill-omened wood! The wood and its
mysteries, for all I should have cared, might have waited long
enough."
"Yesterday morning, then," pursued the knight, smiling kindly upon
Undine, "I set out from the city, my enterprise before me. The early
light lay rich upon the verdant turf. It shone so rosy on the
slender boles of the trees, and there was so merry a whispering among
the leaves, that in my heart I could not but laugh at people who
feared meeting anything to terrify them in a spot so delicious.
'I shall soon pass through the forest, and as speedily return,'
I said to myself, in the overflow of joyous feeling, and ere I was
well aware, I had entered deep among the green shades, while of the
plain that lay behind me I was no longer able to catch a glimpse.
"Then the conviction for the first time impressed me, that in a
forest of so great extent I might very easily become bewildered, and
that this, perhaps, might be the only danger which was likely to
threaten those who explored its recesses. So I made a halt, and
turned myself in the direction of the sun, which had meantime risen
somewhat higher, and while I was looking up to observe it, I saw
something black among the boughs of a lofty oak. My first thought
was, 'It is a bear!' and I grasped my weapon. The object then
accosted me from above in a human voice, but in a tone most harsh and
hideous: 'If I, overhead here, do not gnaw off these dry branches,
Sir Noodle, what shall we have to roast you with when midnight
comes?' And with that it grinned, and made such a rattling with the
branches that my courser became mad with affright, and rushed
furiously forward with me before I had time to see distinctly what
sort of a devil's beast it was."
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