ds. And well he knew that
after she had shown her anger most, she would in but a little while be
again kind and gentle as before.

On the quiet island Huldbrand heard no call to knightly deeds. His
sword hung unused on the cottage wall, his steed fed undisturbed among
the sweet-scented meadows.

'The maiden is the daughter of a great prince, thought the knight. 'It
is not possible that she should remain in this humble cottage all her
life. She shall be my bride, and in days to come she shall dwell in my
castle of Ringstetten on the banks of the Danube.'

Meanwhile, naught disturbed the dwellers in the little cottage, save
now and again when her foster-mother would chide Undine in the
presence of the knight.

Now, though this displeased Huldbrand, he could not blame the old
woman, for it was ever true that the maiden deserved reproof more
often than she received it.

At length wine and food began to grow scarce in the little cottage.
In the evening, when the wind howled around their home, the fisherman
and the knight had been used to cheer themselves with a flask of wine.
But now that the fisherman was not able to reach the city, his supply
of wine had come to an end. Without it the old man and the knight grew
silent and dull.

Undine teased them, laughed at them, but they did not join in her
merriment.

Then one evening the maiden left the cottage, to escape, so she said,
from the gloomy faces in the little kitchen. It was a stormy night,
and as it grew dark the wind began to blow, the waters to rise.
Huldbrand and the fisherman thought of the terrible night on which
they had sought so long in vain for the wilful maiden. They even began
to fear that they had lost her again, and together they rushed to the
door. But to their great delight Undine was standing there, laughing
and clapping her little hands.

'Come with me,' she cried when she saw them, 'come with me and I will
show you a cask which the stream has thrown ashore. If it is not a
wine cask you may punish me as you will.'

The men went with her, and there in a little creek they found the
cask and began to roll it toward the cottage.

But though they rolled it rapidly the storm crept quickly up. So black
were the clouds, so threatening, that it seemed each moment that the
rain would burst forth upon them.

Undine helped the men to roll the cask, and as the sky grew yet more
threatening she looked up at the dark clouds and said in a warning
voice,