arms and carried her across, remembering now for the
first time that this was the same little island from which he had
borne her back to the old fisherman on that first night. On the
farther side he put her down on the soft grass, and was on the point
of placing himself lovingly near his beautiful burden when she said,
"No, there, opposite to me! I will read my sentence in your eyes,
before your lips speak; now, listen attentively to what I will relate
to you!" And she began:

"You must know, my loved one, that there are beings in the elements
which appear almost like you mortals, and which rarely allow
themselves to become visible to your race. Wonderful salamanders
glitter and sport in the flames; lean and malicious gnomes dwell deep
within the earth; spirits, belonging to the air, wander through the
forests; and a vast family of water spirits live in the lakes and
streams and brooks. In resounding domes of crystal, through which the
sky looks in with its sun and stars, these latter spirits find their
beautiful abode; lofty trees of coral, with blue and crimson fruits,
gleam in the gardens; they wander over the pure sand of the sea, and
among lovely variegated shells, and amid all exquisite treasures of
the old world, which the present is no longer worthy to enjoy; all
these the floods have covered with their secret veils of silver, and
the noble monuments sparkle below, stately and solemn, and bedewed by
the loving waters which allure from them many a beautiful moss-flower
and entwining cluster of sea-grass. Those, however, who dwell there,
are very fair and lovely to behold, and for the most part are more
beautiful than human beings. Many a fisherman has been so fortunate
as to surprise some tender mermaid, as she rose above the waters and
sang. He would then tell afar of her beauty, and such wonderful beings
have been given the name of Undines. You, moreover, are now actually
beholding an Undine."

The knight tried to persuade himself that his beautiful wife was
under the spell of one of her strange humors and that she was taking
pleasure in teasing him with one of her extravagant inventions. But
repeatedly as he said this to himself, he could not believe it for a
moment; a strange shudder passed through him; unable to utter a word,
he stared at the beautiful narrator with an immovable gaze. Undine
shook her head sorrowfully, drew a deep sigh, and then proceeded.

"Our condition would be far superior to that of