"Now who would have thought that Hermann was so romantic!" they said.
"And he has the fattest pigs and the biggest casks of wine in the
village!"

Songs were proposed; everyone joined in; the voices of the nixies were
heard above all, clear and beautiful as a bell. They began with one of
the best-known songs in the German language which is always sung on
especially jovial occasions, it begins:

"I cannot tell why or wherefore
A legend of olden times
Deep in my heart is singing,
In mournful rhythmic rhymes."

After several songs had been sung in unison, Hermann begged the young
man who was the host that evening to ask the beautiful strangers to sing
a song alone and of their own choosing, he longed to hear their voices,
unspoilt by those of others.

The nixy maidens readily complied: was not singing their most natural
mode of expressing themselves? They sang these verses to a weird,
haunting melody:

"The wild-fowl are calling: come back to the lake!
O nixies come back, or your proud hearts must break;
The moonbeams are glancing, the fairies are dancing,
Come back.

The grey mists are rising! Beware, O beware!
For though you are slender and though you are fair,
Your treacherous waters, O nixy king's daughters,
Can slay.

Beware the king's anger--O tempt not your fate,
The white water-lilies your coming still wait;
Wide open each flower until the twelfth hour--
Beware!"

The old pendulum clock on the wall struck eleven. How fast the time had
flown! The three beautiful maidens rose up hastily and departed, wishing
a courteous "good night" and "good luck to you" to the company.

As Hermann opened the door for them, he saw a little dwarf with a
lighted lantern waiting for them outside the door, and much as he wished
to accompany them home, he did not dare to do so.

When they had left the room, a storm of conjecture burst forth; at last
everyone agreed that they must be the nixies of the lake.

"We did not like the look of their eyes; they were so cold and
treacherous," said some of the girls who were jealous of a beauty that
they felt they could never attain to.

"You are ill-natured things, not fit to sweep the floor for such
exquisite creatures," said Hermann angrily; and the whole company began
to jeer and to laugh at him, saying:

"Hermann has fallen in love with the nixies. Many a wet kiss will he
have from them--ha--ha!--but cold water will be his bridal bed, a