me that you don't want to be the landlady of the
Chamois. Tell me frankly, is it so?"

"No, I don't; but if you're really bent upon it--"

"I want nothing that doesn't suit you."

"Nor do I want anything that displeases you."

"And so we'll let the innkeeper go his own way?"

"Gladly."

"We can wait."

"We can remain as we are, for the present."

"We'll soon find a good chance."

"The money won't grow moldy."

"Nor will you. I've got a bran-new wife. Hurrah! hurrah!"

Their voices joined in merry song, and they felt as if relieved from a
self-imposed burden.

"They may make sport of me, as much as they please, as long as we're
happy together," said Hansei.

"Hansei, I'll never forget you for that. There's something else coming,
too."

"There needn't be anything more. All I ask for is that we may keep what
we have."

They sat there for a long while, and at last Walpurga said:

"Oh! how beautiful the world is. If we could only always remain
together thus. There's nothing more beautiful than to sit here and look
at the lake, through the green leaves and the gray boughs. There are
two skies, one above and one below. Hansei, we have two heavens, too,
and I almost think that the one on earth is the lovelier of the two."

"Yes, but joy has made me hungry and thirsty; I must have something to
eat."

They descended to a quiet, desolate-looking village that lay near by.
Here and there people were seated before their doors, chatting and
yawning, to while away the sultry hour of noon. But Walpurga said:

"Oh, Hansei, how beautiful everything is! Just look at that
wheelbarrow, and that pile of wood, and that house--I don't know what's
the matter with me, but I feel quite dizzy, and as if everything were
smiling at me."

"You must have something to eat and drink; you're quite beside
yourself."

They found the inn-parlor untenanted except by myriads of flies.

"They've got lots of guests here, but they don't pay anything," said
Hansei, and they both laughed with all their might. They were so happy
that the merest trifle provoked them to laughter.

After repeated calls the landlady appeared, bringing some sour wine and
stale bread; but it was quite palatable, nevertheless.

They left and, when evening came on, rowed about the lake for a long
while. The evening dews were already falling, when Hansei, pointing
toward a distant bare spot in the forest, said: "That's our meadow."

Walpurga seemed busied wi