Undine
Page 19
CHAPTER XIX.
HOW THE KNIGHT HULDBRAND WAS BURIED.
Father Heilmann had returned to the castle as soon as the death ofthe lord of Ringstetten had been made known in the neighborhood, andhe appeared at the very same moment that the monk who had marriedthe unfortunate couple was fleeing from the gates overwhelmed withfear and terror.
"It is well," replied Heilmann, when he was informed of this; "nowmy duties begin, and I need no associate."
Upon this he began to console the bride, now a widow, small resultas it produced upon her worldly thoughtless mind. The old fisherman,on the other hand, although heartily grieved, was far more resignedto the fate which had befallen his daughter and son-in-law, andwhile Bertalda could not refrain from abusing Undine as a murderessand sorceress, the old man calmly said: "It could not be otherwiseafter all; I see nothing in it but the judgment of God, and no one'sheart has been more deeply grieved by Huldbrand's death than that ofher by whom it was inflicted--the poor forsaken Undine!"
At the same time he assisted in arranging the funeral solemnities asbefitted the rank of the deceased.
The knight was to be interred in the village churchyard which wasfilled with the graves of his ancestors. And this church had beenendowed with rich privileges and gifts both by these ancestors andby himself. His shield and helmet lay already on the coffin, to belowered with it into the grave, for Sir Huldbrand, of Ringstetten,had died the last of his race; the mourners began their sorrowfulmarch, singing requiems under the bright, calm canopy of heaven;Father Heilmann walked in advance, bearing a high crucifix, and theinconsolable Bertalda followed, supported by her aged father.Suddenly, in the midst of the black-robed attendants in the widow'strain, a snow-white figure was seen, closely veiled, and wringingher hands with fervent sorrow. Those near whom she moved felt asecret dread, and retreated either backward or to the side,increasing by their movements the alarm of the others near to whomthe white stranger was now advancing, and thus a confusion in thefuneral-train was well-nigh beginning. Some of the military escortwere so daring as to address the figure, and to attempt to remove itfrom the procession; but she seemed to vanish from under theirhands, and yet was immediately seen advancing again amid the dismalcortege with slow and solemn step. At length, in consequence of thecontinued shrinking of the attendants to the right and to the left,she came close behind Bertalda. The figure now moved so slowly thatthe widow did not perceive it, and it walked meekly and humblybehind her undisturbed.
This lasted till they came to the churchyard, where the processionformed a circle round the open grave. Then Bertalda saw her unbiddencompanion, and starting up half in anger and half in terror, shecommanded her to leave the knight's last resting-place. The veiledfigure, however, gently shook her head in refusal, and raised herhands as if in humble supplication to Bertalda, deeply agitating herby the action, and recalling to her with tears how Undine had sokindly wished to give her that coral necklace on the Danube. FatherHeilmann motioned with his hand and commanded silence, as they wereto pray in mute devotion over the body, which they were now coveringwith the earth. Bertalda knelt silently, and all knelt, even thegrave-diggers among the rest, when they had finished their task. Butwhen they rose again, the white stranger had vanished; on the spotwhere she had knelt there gushed out of the turf a little silverspring, which rippled and murmured away till it had almost entirelyencircled the knight's grave; then it ran further and emptied itselfinto a lake which lay by the side of the burial-place. Even to thisday the inhabitants of the village show the spring, and cherish thebelief that it is the poor rejected Undine, who in this manner stillembraces her husband in her loving arms.