ten merely in the sport of his humor,
has surrounded thee, have raised horror and dread in thy mind; but
now, I hope, it shall be so no more; for I came now only to tell thee,
dear Anselmus, from the bottom of my heart and soul, all and sundry to
a tittle that thou needest to know for understanding my father, and so
learn the real condition of both of us."

Anselmus felt as if he were so wholly clasped and encircled by the
gentle, lovely form, that only with her could he move and stir, and
as if it were but the beating of her pulse that throbbed through
his nerves and fibres; he listened to each one of her words which
penetrated his inmost heart, and, like a burning ray, kindled in him
the rapture of Heaven. He had put his arm round that daintier than
dainty waist; but the changeful glistering cloth of her robe was
so smooth and slippery that it seemed to him as if she could at any
moment wind herself from his arms, and glide away. He trembled at the
thought.

"Ah, do not leave me, sweet Serpentina!" cried he involuntarily; "thou
alone art my life."

"Not now," said Serpentina, "till I have told thee all that in thy
love of me thou canst comprehend."

"Know then, dearest, that my father is sprung from the wondrous race
of the Salamanders; and that I owe my existence to his love for the
green Snake. In primeval times, in the Fairyland Atlantis, the potent
Spirit-prince Phosphorus bore rule; and to him the Salamanders, and
other Spirits of the Elements, were plighted. Once on a time, the
Salamander, whom he loved before all others (it was my father),
chanced to be walking in the stately garden, which Phosphorus' mother
had decked in the lordliest fashion with her best gifts; and the
Salamander heard a tall Lily singing in low tones: `Press down thy
little eyelids, till my Lover, the Morning-wind, awake thee.' He
stepped toward it: touched by his glowing breath, the Lily opened her
leaves; and he saw the Lily's daughter, the green Snake, lying asleep
in the hollow of the flower. Then was the Salamander inflamed with
warm love for the fair Snake; and he carried her away from the Lily,
whose perfumes in nameless lamentation vainly called for her beloved
daughter throughout all the garden. For the Salamander had borne her
into the palace of Phosphorus, and was there beseeching him: 'Wed me
with my beloved, for she shall be mine forevermore.' 'Madman, what
askest thou!' said the Prince of the Spirits; 'know that once the