Undine
Page 4
CHAPTER IV.
OF THAT WHICH THE KNIGHT ENCOUNTERED IN THE WOOD.
"It is now about eight days ago since I rode into the free imperialcity, which lies on the other side of the forest. Soon after myarrival, there was a splendid tournament and running at the ring,and I spared neither my horse nor my lance. Once when I was pausingat the lists, to rest after my merry toil, and was handing back myhelmet to one of my squires, my attention was attracted by a femalefigure of great beauty, who was standing richly attired on one ofthe galleries allotted to spectators."
"I asked my neighbor, and learned from him, that the name of thefair lady was Bertalda, and that she was the foster-daughter of oneof the powerful dukes living in the country. I remarked that shealso was looking at me, and, as it is wont to be with us youngknights, I had already ridden bravely, and now pursued my coursewith renovated confidence and courage. In the dance that evening Iwas Bertalda's partner, and I remained so throughout the festival."
A sharp pain in his left hand, which hung down by his side, hereinterrupted Huldbrand's narrative, and drew his attention to theaching part. Undine had fastened her pearly teeth upon one of hisfingers, appearing at the same time very gloomy and angry. Suddenly,however, she looked up in his eyes with an expression of tendermelancholy, and whispered in a soft voice: "It is your own fault."Then she hid her face, and the knight, strangely confused andthoughtful, continued his narrative.
"This Bertalda was a haughty, wayward girl. Even on the second dayshe pleased me no longer as she had done on the first, and on thethird day still less. Still I continued about her, because she wasmore pleasant to me than to any other knight, and thus it was that Ibegged her in jest to give me one of her gloves. 'I will give it youwhen you have quite alone explored the ill-famed forest,' said she,'and can bring me tidings of its wonders.' It was not that her glovewas of such importance to me, but the word had been said, and anhonorable knight would not allow himself to be urged a second timeto such a proof of valor."
"I think she loved you," said Undine, interrupting him.
"It seemed so," replied Huldbrand.
"Well," exclaimed the girl, laughing, "she must be stupid indeed. Todrive away any one dear to her. And moreover, into an ill-omenedwood. The forest and its mysteries might have waited long enough forme!"
"Yesterday morning." continued the knight, smiling kindly at Undine,"I set out on my enterprise. The stems of the trees caught the redtints of the morning light which lay brightly on the green turf, theleaves seemed whispering merrily with each other, and in my heart Icould have laughed at the people who could have expected anything toterrify them in this pleasant spot. 'I shall soon have trottedthrough the forest there and back again,' I said to myself, with afeeling of easy gayety, and before I had even thought of it I wasdeep within the green shades, and could no longer perceive the plainwhich lay behind me. Then for the first time it struck me that Imight easily lose my way in the mighty forest, and that this perhapswas the only danger which the wanderer had to fear. I thereforepaused and looked round in the direction of the sun, which in themean while had risen somewhat higher above the horizon. While I wasthus looking up I saw something black in the branches of a loftyoak. I thought it was a bear and I grasped my sword; but with ahuman voice, that sounded harsh and ugly, it called to me fromabove: 'If I do not nibble away the branches up here, Sir Malapert,what shall we have to roast you with at midnight?' And so saying itgrinned and made the branches rustle, so that my horse grew furiousand rushed forward with me before I had time to see what sort of adevil it really was."
"You must not call it so," said the old fisherman as he crossedhimself; his wife did the same silently. Undine looked at the knightwith sparkling eyes and said: "The best of the story is that theycertainly have not roasted him yet; go on now, you beautiful youth!"
The knight continued his narration: "My horse was so wild that healmost rushed with me against the stems and branches of trees; hewas dripping with sweat, and yet would not suffer himself to be heldin. At last he went straight in the direction of a rocky precipice;then it suddenly seemed to me as if a tall white man threw himselfacross the path of my wild steed; the horse trembled with fear andstopped: I recovered my hold of him, and for the first timeperceived that my deliverer was no white man, but a brook of silverybrightness, rushing down from a hill by my side and crossing andimpeding my horse's course."
"Thanks, dear Brook," exclaimed Undine, clapping her little hands.The old man, however, shook his head and looked down in deepthought.
"I had scarcely settled myself in the saddle," continued Huldbrand."and seized the reins firmly, when a wonderful little man stood atmy side, diminutive, and ugly beyond conception. His complexion wasof a yellowish brown, and his nose not much smaller than the rest ofhis entire person. At the same time he kept grinning with stupidcourtesy, exhibiting his huge mouth, and making a thousand scrapesand bows to me. As this farce was now becoming inconvenient to me, Ithanked him briefly and turned about my still trembling steed,thinking either to seek another adventure, or in case I met withnone, to find my way back, for during my wild chase the sun hadalready passed the meridian; but the little fellow sprang round withthe speed of lightning and stood again before my horse. 'Room!' Icried, angrily; 'the animal is wild and may easily run over you.'--'Ay, ay!' snarled the imp, with a grin still more horribly stupid.'Give me first some drink-money, for I have stopped your horse;without me you and your horse would be now both lying in the stonyravine; ugh!'--'Don't make any more faces,' said I, 'and take yourmoney, even if you are telling lies; for see, it was the good brookthere that saved me, and not you, you miserable wight! And at thesame time I dropped a piece of gold into his grotesque cap, which hehad taken off in his begging. I then trotted on; but he screamedafter me, and suddenly with inconceivable quickness was at my side.I urged my horse into a gallop; the imp ran too, making at the sametime strange contortions with his body, half-ridiculous, half-horrible,and holding up the gold-piece, he cried, at every leap,'False money!, false coin!, false coin!, false money!'--and this heuttered with such a hollow sound that one would have supposed thatafter every scream he would have fallen dead to the ground."
"His horrid red tongue moreover hung far out of his mouth. Istopped, perplexed, and asked: 'What do you mean by this screaming?take another piece of gold, take two, but leave me.' He then beganagain his hideous burlesque of politeness, and snarled out: 'Notgold, not gold, my young gentleman. I have too much of that trashmyself, as I will show you at once?'"
"Suddenly it seemed to me as if I could see through the solid soilas though it were green glass and the smooth earth were as round asa ball; and within, a multitude of goblins were ranking sport withsilver and gold; head over heels they were rolling about, peltingeach other in jest with the precious metals, and provokingly blowingthe gold-dust in each other's eyes. My hideous companion stoodpartly within and partly without; he ordered the others to reach himup heaps of gold, and showing it to me with a laugh, he then flungit back again with a ringing noise into the immeasurable abyss."
"He then showed the piece of gold I had given him to the goblinsbelow, and they laughed themselves half-dead over it and hissed atme. At last they all pointed at me with their metal-stained fingers,and more and more wildly, and more and more densely, and more andmore madly, the swarm of spirits came clambering up to me. I wasseized with terror as my horse had been before: I put spurs to him,and I know not how far I galloped for the second time wildly intothe forest."
"At length, when I again halted, the coolness of evening was aroundme. Through the branches of the trees I saw a white foot-pathgleaming, which I fancied must lead from the forest toward the city.I was anxious to work my way in that direction; but a face perfectlywhite and indistinct, with features ever changing, kept peering atme between the leaves; I tried to avoid it, but wherever I went itappeared also. Enraged at this, I determined at last to ride at it,when it gushed forth volumes of foam upon me and my horse, obligingus half-blinded to make
a rapid retreat. Thus it drove us step bystep ever away from the foot-path, leaving the way open to us onlyin one direction. When we advanced in this direction, it kept indeedclose behind us, but did not do us the slightest harm."
"Looking around at it occasionally, I perceived that the white facethat had besprinkled us with foam belonged to a form equally whiteand of gigantic stature. Many a time I thought that it was a movingstream, but I could never convince myself on the subject. Weariedout, the horse and his rider yielded to the impelling power of thewhite man, who kept nodding his head, as if he would say, 'Quiteright, quite right!' And thus at last we came out here to the end ofthe forest, where I saw the turf, and the lake, and your littlecottage, and where the tall white man disappeared."
"It's well that he's gone," said the old fisherman; and now he beganto talk of the best way by which his guest could return to hisfriends in the city. Upon this Undine began to laugh slyly toherself; Huldbrand observed it, and said: "I thought you were gladto see me here; why then do you now rejoice when my departure istalked of?"
"Because you cannot go away," replied Undine. "Just try it once, tocross that overflowed forest stream with a boat, with your horse, oralone, as you may fancy. Or rather don't try it, for you would bedashed to pieces by the stones and trunks of trees which are carrieddown by it with the speed of lightning. And as to the lake, I knowit well; father dare not venture out far enough with his boat."
Huldbrand rose, smiling, in order to see whether things were asUndine had said; the old man accompanied him, and the girl dancedmerrily along by their side. They found every thing, indeed, asUndine had described, and the knight was obliged to submit to remainon the little tongue of land, that had become an island, till theflood should subside. As the three were returning to the cottageafter their ramble, the knight whispered in the ear of the littlemaiden "Well, how is it, my pretty Undine--are you angry at myremaining?"
"Ah!" she replied, peevishly, "let me alone. If I had not bittenyou, who knows how much of Bertalda would have appeared in yourstory?"