Heilman is my name,' answered the priest, 'and I am journeying
back to my monastery, after an absence of many days.'

'Now I,' said the stranger, 'am named Lord Kuehleborn, though sometimes
I am called Kuehleborn the Free, for indeed I am free as the wild birds
of the air to go hither and thither as I will. Meanwhile, Sir Priest,
I bid you farewell, for I would speak to yonder lady.'

Even as he spoke, Kuehleborn left the priest and came close up to
Undine. He bent forward as though he would whisper in her ear. But
Undine drew herself quickly away, crying as she saw who was by her
side, 'I no longer wish to have aught to do with you!'

But her uncle only laughed at her words.

'You are my niece,' he said, 'and I am here to guide you through the
forest. The goblins in the cavern beneath the earth might come forth
to do you harm were I not here to keep them quiet. The priest, who is
named Father Heilman, speaks to me more kindly than do you. Know you
not that it was I who brought him in safety to the little island to be
ready for your wedding-day?'

Undine and the knight turned to the priest, but he was walking as one
in deep thought, and had, it was easy to see, heard nothing that the
stranger had said.

Then Undine turned again to her uncle. 'See yonder,' she cried, 'I can
see already the end of the wood. We need your help no longer. I pray
you vanish and do not disturb us further.'

When Kuehleborn saw that Undine really wished him to leave her, he was
angry. He made faces and shook his fist at his niece, until at length
she screamed, 'Huldbrand, Huldbrand, save me, I entreat you!'

The knight at once drew his sword and would have struck at the rude
stranger. But as he thrust in the direction of Kuehleborn he felt a
waterfall come rushing down from a rock above him. He drew his wife
back, that she might not be drenched, but as he did so a white spray
was flung after them which wet them both to the skin. At that moment
they heard, as they thought, a low mocking laugh.

'It is strange,' said the priest, 'that the ripple of the stream
should sound almost as the voice of a man.'

To Huldbrand the stream still seemed to be speaking, and these were
the words he thought he heard. 'You were foolish, Sir Knight, to draw
your sword, yet will I not be angry with you, nor will I quarrel with
you so long as you guard well your beautiful wife. Yet be not again
thus hasty, Sir Knight.'

As the voice faded away into sile