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Page 16
He frequently observed, with heartfelt satisfaction, that the forest
stream continued every day to swell and roll on with a more impetuous
sweep; and this forced him to prolong his stay on the island. Part
of the day he wandered about with an old cross-bow, which he found in
a corner of the cottage, and had repaired in order to shoot the
waterfowl that flew over; and all that he was lucky enough to hit he
brought home for a good roast in the kitchen. When he came in with
his booty, Undine seldom failed to greet him with a scolding, because
he had cruelly deprived the happy joyous little creatures of life as
they were sporting above in the blue ocean of the air; nay more, she
often wept bitterly when she viewed the water-fowl dead in his hand.
But at other times, when he returned without having shot any, she
gave him a scolding equally serious, since, owing to his carelessness
and want of skill, they must now put up with a dinner of fish. Her
playful taunts ever touched his heart with delight; the more so, as
she generally strove to make up for her pretended ill-humour with
endearing caresses.
The old people saw with pleasure this familiarity of Undine and
Huldbrand; they looked upon them as betrothed, or even as married,
and living with them in their old age on their island, now torn off
from the mainland. The loneliness of his situation strongly
impressed also the young Huldbrand with the feeling that he was
already Undine's bridegroom. It seemed to him as if, beyond those
encompassing floods, there were no other world in existence, or at
any rate as if he could never cross them, and again associate with
the world of other men; and when at times his grazing steed raised
his head and neighed to him, seemingly inquiring after his knightly
achievements and reminding him of them, or when his coat-of-arms
sternly shone upon him from the embroidery of his saddle and the
caparisons of his horse, or when his sword happened to fall from the
nail on which it was hanging in the cottage, and flashed on his eye
as it slipped from the scabbard in its fall, he quieted the doubts of
his mind by saying to himself, "Undine cannot be a fisherman's
daughter. She is, in all probability, a native of some remote
region, and a member of some illustrious family."
There was one thing, indeed, to which he had a strong aversion: this
was to hear the old dame reproving Undine. The wild girl, it is
true, commonly laughed at the reproof, making no attempt to conceal
the extravagance of her mirth; but it appeared to him like touching
his own honour; and still he found it impossible to blame the aged
wife of the fisherman, since Undine always deserved at least ten
times as many reproofs as she received; so he continued to feel in
his heart an affectionate tenderness for the ancient mistress of the
house, and his whole life flowed on in the calm stream of
contentment.
There came, however, an interruption at last. The fisherman and the
knight had been accustomed at dinner, and also in the evening when
the wind roared without, as it rarely failed to do towards night, to
enjoy together a flask of wine. But now their whole stock, which the
fisherman had from time to time brought with him from the city, was
at last exhausted, and they were both quite out of humour at the
circumstance. That day Undine laughed at them excessively, but they
were not disposed to join in her jests with the same gaiety as usual.
Toward evening she went out of the cottage, to escape, as she said,
the sight of two such long and tiresome faces.
While it was yet twilight, some appearances of a tempest seemed to be
again mustering in the sky, and the waves already heaved and roared
around them: the knight and the fisherman sprang to the door in
terror, to bring home the maiden, remembering the anguish of that
night when Huldbrand had first entered the cottage. But Undine met
them at the same moment, clapping her little hands in high glee.
"What will you give me," she cried, "to provide you with wine? or
rather, you need not give me anything," she continued; "for I am
already satisfied, if you look more cheerful, and are in better
spirits, than throughout this last most wearisome day. Only come
with me; the forest stream has driven ashore a cask; and I will be
condemned to sleep through a whole week, if it is not a wine-cask."
The men followed her, and actually found, in a bushy cove of the
shore, a cask, which inspired them with as much joy as if they were
sure it contained the generous old wine for which they were
thirsting. They first of all, and with as much expedition as
possible, rolled it toward the cottage; for heavy clouds were again
rising in the west, and they could discern the waves of the lake in
the fading light lifting their white foaming heads, as if looking out
for the rain, which threatened every instant to pour upon them.
Undine helped the men as much as she was able; and as the shower,
with a roar of wind, came suddenly sweeping on in rapid pursuit, she
raised her finger with a merry menace toward the dark mass of clouds,
and cried:
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