4 UNDINE,
a like impulse, strove to fold the meadow, with its wav- ing grass and flowers, and the cooling shade of the trees, in its embrace of love. They seemed to be drawn to- ward each other, and the one to be visiting the other as a guest,
With respect to human beings, indeed, in this pleasant spot, excepting the fisherman and his family, there were few, or rather none, to be met with. For as in the back- ground of the scene, toward the west and north-west, lay a forest of extraordinary wildness, which, owing to its sun- less gloom and almost impassable recesses, as well as to fear of the strange creatures and visionary illusions to be encountered in it, most people avoided entering, unless in cases of extreme necessity. The pious old fisherman, how- ever, many times passed through it without harm, when hfc carried the fine fish, which he caught by his beautiful strip of land, to a great city lying only a short distance beyond the forest.
Now the reason he was able to go through this wood with so much ease may have been chiefiy this, because he entertained scarcely any thoughts but such as were of a religious nature ; and besides, every time he crossed the evil-reported sliades, he used to sing some holy song with a clear voice and from a sincere heart.
Well, while he sat by his nets this evening, neither fearing nor devising evil, a sudden terror seized him, us he heard a rushing in the darkness of the wood, that re- sembled the trampling of a mounted steed, and the noise continued every instant drawing nearer and nearer to his little territory.
What he had fancied, when abroad in many a stormy night, respecting the mysteries of the forest, now flashed through his mind in a moment ; esj)ecially the figure ot a man of gigantic stature and snow-white a])pearanee, who kept nodding liis lioad in a portentous manner. And when he raised his eyes towards the wood, the form came before bim in perfect distinctness, as he saw the nodding man
