Page:The Enchanted Knights; or The Chronicle of the Three Sisters.djvu/53

road leading ito the valley, perceived in the distance a lake, whose surface was gilded by the reflection of the sun-beams. With toil and labour he forced his way through the densely grown forest, his whole attention bent upon the lake where he supposed his sister Bertha to dwell; but the farther he penetrated the wild wood, the more obstacles he encountered. At times the intervening brushwood hid the lake from his sight, and then he began to despair of finding his sister. Towards evening, he again saw the water-plain shining through the trees, as the forest became less dense; still he was unable to reach its shores before night fall. Overcome by fatigue, he quartered himself under a tree in the plain, and did not awake till the sun was high in the heavens. He rose, refreshed by his slumbers, and walked along the shore pondering how he could reach his sister in the lake. It was in vain that he called aloud:—“Bertha, dear sister, if you reside in this water, answer me! I am Reginald, the child of wonder, thy brother, who seeks thee, to untie the enchantment of thy watery prison!” The many voiced echo of the forest alone responded to the words. “O you dear fish,” continued he, as he saw numbers of red-spotted trout swimming to the