CHAPTER VI
TELLETH OF A WEDDING
Now in the midst of this stillness came the sound of soft knocking at the door, and startled those that were within; for, at times, but a trifling incident can scare us, when it happeneth unexpectedly. But in this case there was the more reason for alarm in that the enchanted forest lay so near, and that the little promontory appeared out of the reach of all human visitors. They looked at each other with doubt in their faces, and when the knocking came again, and this time accompanied with a groan, the knight sprang to reach his sword. But the old man whispered softly, “Sir Knight,” quoth he, “an it be what I fear, no weapon will be of avail.” Meantime Undine approached the door and called out boldly and angrily, “Spirits of the earth, I warn ye! If ye mean mischief, Kühleborn shall teach ye better!”
Words so full of mystery only added to the terror of the others, and they looked at the maiden fearfully. When Hulbrand, however, was minded to ask Undine what she might mean by such a speech, there came a voice from without. “I am no spirit of the earth,” it said, “but a spirit still within its earthly frame. I pray ye within the hut, if ye fear God and will help me, open to me.”
Undine at these words opened the door and held out a lantern into the night, so that they perceived an aged priest standing there. He stepped back in wonder: full startled was he to see so beautiful a maiden at the humble cottage entrance, and he might well suppose in such a case that witchcraft and magic were at work. So he began to pray, “All good spirits praise the Lord God!”
“No spirit am I,” saith Undine, smiling. “Do I then look so ugly? Moreover, thou mayest see that holy words do not frighten me. I, too, know of God, and understand how to praise him—everyone in his own way, to be sure, for so hath he created us. Come in, reverend father, thou art come among good people.”
So the holy man came in, bowing and looking around him. Full venerable and mild was his demeanour, but the water was dropping from every fold of his garment, and from his long white beard and his white hair. The fisherman and knight took him into another chamber, and gave him clothes to wear, while they left his own wet attire for the women to dry. The old man thanked them in humble and courteous sort, but he would on no account take the knight’s rich mantle when it was offered to him, choosing instead an old grey overcoat of the fisherman. Thereupon they returned to the outer room, and the old dame at once gave up her easy chair for the reverend father, and would not rest till he had sate himself down in it. “For,” quoth she, “thou art old and weary, and a priest to boot.” Moreover, Undine pushed under the stranger’s feet the little stool on which she was wont o to sit by Hulbrand’s side, and showed herself in all ways gentle and kind towards the priest. Hulbrand whispered some jest about it in her ear, but she answered full seriously, “He is a servant of Him who hath made us all, holy things must not be mocked.”