CHAPTER III.
HOW THEY FOUND UNDINE AGAIN.
The longer Huldbrand sought Undine beneath the shades of night, andfailed to find her, the more anxious and confused did he become.
The idea that Undine had been only a mere apparition of the forest,again gained ascendancy over him; indeed, amid the howling of thewaves and the tempest, the cracking of the trees, and the completetransformation of a scene lately so calmly beautiful, he couldalmost have considered the whole peninsula with its cottage and itsinhabitants as a mocking illusive vision; but from afar he stillever heard through the tumult the fisherman's anxious call forUndine, and the loud praying and singing of his aged wife. At lengthhe came close to the brink of the swollen stream, and saw in themoonlight how it had taken its wild course directly in front of thehaunted forest, so as to change the peninsula into an island. "OhGod!" he thought to himself, "if Undine has ventured a step intothat fearful forest, perhaps in her charming wilfulness, justbecause I was not allowed to tell her about it; and now the streammay be rolling between us, and she may be weeping on the other sidealone, among phantoms and spectres!"
A cry of horror escaped him, and he clambered down some rocks andoverthrown pine-stems, in order to reach the rushing stream and bywading or swimming to seek the fugitive on the other side. Heremembered all the awful and wonderful things which he hadencountered, even by day, under the now rustling and roaringbranches of the forest. Above all it seemed to him as if a tall manin white, whom he knew but too well, was grinning and nodding on theopposite shore; but it was just these monstrous forms which forciblyimpelled him to cross the flood, as the thought seized him thatUndine might be among them in the agonies of death and alone.
He had already grasped the strong branch of a pine, and was standingsupported by it, in the whirling current, against which he couldwith difficulty maintain himself; though with a courageous spirit headvanced deeper into it. Just then a gentle voice exclaimed nearhim: "Venture not, venture not, the old man, the stream, is full oftricks!" He knew the sweet tones; he stood as if entranced beneaththe shadows that duskily shrouded the moon, and his head swam withthe swelling of the waves, which he now saw rapidly rising to hiswaist. Still he would not desist.
"If thou art not really there, if thou art only floating about melike a mist, then may I too cease to live and become a shadow likethee, dear, dear Undine!" Thus exclaiming aloud, he again steppeddeeper into the stream. "Look round thee, oh! look round thee,beautiful but infatuated youth!" cried a voice again close besidehim, and looking aside, he saw by the momentarily unveiled moon, alittle island formed by the flood, on which he perceived under theinterweaved branches of the overhanging trees, Undine smiling andhappy, nestling in the flowery grass.
Oh! how much more gladly than before did the young man now use theaid of his pine-branch!
With a few steps he had crossed the flood which was rushing betweenhim and the maiden, and he was standing beside her on a little spotof turf, safely guarded and screened by the good old trees. Undinehad half-raised herself, and now under the green leafy tent shethrew her arms round his neck, and drew him down beside her on hersoft seat.
"You shall tell me your story here, beautiful friend," said she, ina low whisper; "the cross old people cannot hear us here: and ourroof of leaves is just as good a shelter as their poor cottage."
"It is heaven itself!" said Huldbrand, embracing the beautiful girland kissing her fervently.
The old fisherman meanwhile had come to the edge of the stream, andshouted across to the two young people; "Why, sir knight, I havereceived you as one honest-hearted man is wont to receive another,and now here you are caressing my foster-child in secret, andletting me run hither and thither through the night in anxioussearch of her."
"I have only just found her myself, old father," returned theknight.
"So much the better," said the fisherman; "but now bring her acrossto me without delay upon firm ground."
Undine, however, would not hear of this; she declared she wouldrather go with the beautiful stranger, into the wild forest itself,than return to the cottage, where no one did as she wished, and fromwhich the beautiful knight would himself depart sooner or later.Then, throwing her arms round Huldbrand, she sang with indescribablegrace:--
"A stream ran out of the misty vale Its fortunes to obtain, the ocean's depths it found a home And ne'er returned again."
The old fisherman wept bitterly at her song, but this did not seemto affect her particularly. She kissed and caressed her new friend,who at last said to her: "Undine, if the old man's distress does nottouch your heart, it touches mine--let us go back to him."
She opened her large blue eyes in amazement at him, and spoke atlast, slowly and hesitatingly: "If you think so--well, whatever youthink is right to me. But the old man yonder must first promise methat he will let you, without objection, relate to me what you sawin the wood, and--well, other things will settle themselves."
"Come, only come," cried the fisherman to her, unable to utteranother word: and at the same time he stretched out his arms farover the rushing stream toward her, and nodded his head as if topromise the fulfilment of her request, and as he did this, his whitehair fell strangely over his face, and reminded Huldbrand of thenodding white man in the forest. Without allowing himself, however,to grow confused by such an idea the young knight took the beautifulgirl in his arms, and bore her over the narrow passage which thestream had forced between her little island and the shore.
The old man fell upon Undine's neck and could not satisfy theexuberance of his joy; his good wife also came up and caressed thenewly-found in the heartiest manner. Not a word of reproach passedtheir lips; nor was it thought of, for Undine, forgetting all herwaywardness, almost overwhelmed her foster-parents with affectionand fond expressions.
When at last they had recovered from the excess of their joy, dayhad already dawned, and had shed its purple hue over the lake;stillness had followed the storm, and the little birds were singingmerrily on the wet branches. As Undine now insisted upon hearing theknight's promised story, the aged couple smilingly and readilyacceded to her desire. Breakfast was brought out under the treeswhich screened the cottage from the lake, and they sat down to itwith contented hearts--Undine on the grass at the knight's feet, theplace chosen by herself.
Huldbrand then proceeded with his story.
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