nearer to the habitation of the Elf, whose gift of divination told her that an inimical axe would soon threaten her life-tree. Thereupon she decided on making her guest acquainted with her trouble.
One pleasant summer’s evening, Krokus, having driven his horses by moonlight later than usual into the inclosure, was hastening to his place of rest under the towering oak. His way led round a well-stocked fish-pond, in the silvery waves of which the golden moon-sickel was brilliantly reflected in a conical form. Beyond the slimy part of the pond on the opposite bank, near the oak, he perceived a female form, which seemed to be taking a walk in the refreshing evening air. The apparition startled the young warrior. “Whence this maid,” he thought to himself, “thus alone in the wilderness at this time of the evening, far past twilight?” The adventure, however, was such as to be rather attractive for a young man than repulsive. In order to investigate the case, he redoubled his steps, without losing sight of the object which had invited his attention, and he soon arrived at the place near the oak where he had first espied her. Now it seemed to him as if what he saw was more of a shadow than a substance; and as he
B 2
