'yet then had she
not driven you from her into the haunted forest.'

The knight smiled at the maiden's words and went on with his tale.

'It was but yesterday morning that I set forth on my adventure. The
sun shone bright, so bright that it was not easy to believe that evil
was lurking in the shadows beneath the rustling leaves. "I shall soon
return," I said to myself, as I plunged into the green shade.

'But amid the maze of trees it was not long ere I lost sight of the
path by which I had entered the wood.

'"It may be that I shall lose myself in this mighty forest," I
thought, "but no other danger threatens me."

'I gazed up toward the sun, which had risen higher now than when first
I entered the wood, and as I gazed I saw a black thing among the
branches of a leafy oak.

'Was it a bear, I wondered, and my hand felt for the sword that hung
by my side.

'But it was no bear, for ere long I heard a voice mocking me with
rough and cruel words. "Aha, Sir Wiseacre," said the voice, "I am
breaking twigs off these tall trees, so that at midnight I may light a
fire in which to roast you." Then, before I could answer, the black
thing grinned at me and rustled the branches, until my steed grew
restless and at length galloped away.'

Undine looked at the knight, her blue eyes sparkling as she cried,
'But indeed the wicked creature did not dare to roast you, Sir
Knight!'

'In its terror,' continued Huldbrand, 'my horse dashed itself against
the trees, reared and again rushed madly forward. Onward we flew,
until at length I saw before me a dark abyss. Yet still I found it
impossible to pull up my frightened steed.

'Then all at once a tall white man stood still directly in front of my
maddened horse, which swerved aside as soon as it saw the tall man,
and in that moment I was once more master of my steed. I saw also that
my deliverer was not a tall white man, as I had imagined, but a brook,
which shone silver in the sunlight.'

'Dear brook, I will be grateful to you for evermore,' cried Undine,
clapping her hands as she spoke, in childish glee. But the fisherman
shook his head and was silent.

'And now,' said the knight, 'I was anxious to hasten as quickly as
possible through the forest, for it seemed to me that not only might I
find it difficult to regain the pathway I had lost, but that strange
beings might again startle both me and my noble steed.

'I turned my horse away from the dark chasm which lay before us