Vasily Zhukovsky

Undine

old story

There were days of rapturous visions;
My soul blossomed with poetry;
A wonderful Genius flew to me with news;
All nature was a song to me.
It has passed, that time is golden;
The magical crown has been removed from nature;
The light recognized its earthly face
Exposed, and the ghosts end.
But about the Dream, like a spring bird,
Singing to me, I remember with delight;
And Charms are a phenomenon out of habit
Admire, as of old, my soul.
There is one- alive as an inspiration,
How clear hope is young -
For my soul, her one appearance
Poetry always brings...
Before an empty once cradle
Thoughtfully silent, I stood.
"Who is doomed to a holy housewarming
Are you a tenant?" I asked fate.
And with the first day that flashed to me
Already a dear guest in the tone of the cradle was;
He lay in it under the royal scarlet,
Beautiful, quiet, like God's angel sweet,
Years have passed - and my baby has blossomed,
Beautiful, quiet, like God's angel sweet;
And it seems to me that the sky is a native
Joy in it was sent to earth.
I sometimes meet him here,
Like my pure poetry;
I sometimes resurrect my soul with them;
With him, sometimes, forgetting, I sing.

Chapter I
About how the knight came to the fisherman's hut

For five hundred years or more, it happened that on a clear spring
Evening sat in front of the door of his old hut
An honest fisherman and repaired the net. The side that
He lived, it was a wonderful place. The meadow where I stood
The hut, with a long scythe, entered the wide bosom
Seas: one might think that the coast is fragrant
In light azure, wonderfully clear waters with love
Gentle crowded, like the sea, with a wet quivering chest
Gently clinging to him and hugging him, captivated
The freshness of silk greenery, the brilliance of flowers and the coolness
Dark wood canopy. True, there is little in the region
There were people: a fisherman with his wife, and nothing more; dense
The forest separated the peninsula from solid land. And terrible
That forest was impregnable by its darkness; and rumors
Terrible were about him among the people; it was unclean there.
Evil spirits nested in it and frightened passersby.
So, do not dare to come close to him. But humble
The old fisherman was not afraid of hostile spirits; for sale
He carried the fish to the city that lay beyond the forest; full
Pious thoughts, he entered into its depths, and not once
There he did not meet anything, kept by heavenly power.
Sitting carelessly that evening behind a net, he suddenly heard
Noise in the forest, as if the tramp of a horse and iron
Armor sound; he listens: the noise is coming; timidity
He took possession, and all that until then on rainy nights
He dreamed of a mysterious forest, imagined at once
I think it; especially one, of gigantic growth,
White, always nodding his head strangely. Into the dark
He looks at the forest with fear, and it seemed to him that in the very
A nodding ghost peers through the black branches of Dele.
Remembering, however, that nothing has happened yet
Troubles with him either in the forest, or in the hut, in which for so long
He lived with his wife alone, that the unclean had no power over them,
He took courage, read a prayer, and it soon became
Even he laughs when he sees what
Foolish timidity played a trick on him: a nodding image
Was nothing but a fast-flowing stream, from the middle
Forests running and flowing into the lake with foam; the noise,
Heard to them was from a knight: a step on a white
A vigorous horse from the thicket of the forest he rode and straight
He approached their hut. Scarlet mantle
His purple was covered, embroidered with gold
Slim tunic; curled on a velvet black beret
White feathers; hung at the hip on a precious chain
Sword with a gold handle of skillful work; and white
The knight's horse was stately, strong and alive; he, hoof
Light, barely touching the meadow ant, airy
He walked with his steps and, bending his beautiful neck like a swan,
Gnawing on a bridle drenched in foam. The old man, smitten
With the appearance of a stately knight, he left the seine and, taking off
Hat, looked at him with a welcoming smile. coming closer
The knight said: “Can I find here with a horse this
Night refuge? - “You are welcome, noble guest;
The best stall for your horse will be our green
Meadow, under the roof of branched trees; and delicious food
He himself will find under his feet; we are willing to you
Let's clean the corner in our wretched dwelling and dinner
We will share the meager with you. Knight nodding his head
He jumped off his horse, unbridled him and across the fresh meadow
Let him run; then he said to the fisherman: “You are willing,
Good old man, you accept me, but when and not so much
If you were accommodating, then everything would not be finished with me today:
The sea, I see, is here in front of us, and the road is far away
There is no; and in the evening late in this damn
God save the forest to return!” - "Let's not talk about it
Too much to say now," he said, looking around,
The old fisherman led the weary guest into the hut.
There, in front of a bright fire that burned in the fireplace and in a clean
Upper room quivering brilliance poured, on a wide chair
An elderly fisherman's wife sat with a carved back.
Seeing the guest, the old woman stood up, bowed to him
Seriously and sat down again, to give him without thinking
Your place. The fisherman, laughing, said: "Noble
Knight, please do not recover that my mistress is her deceased
She saved the chair for herself: we have such a custom;
The best place is always given over to the old.” - "What you,
Grandfather! said the hostess with a gentle smile. - After all, our guest,
That's right, a man of Christ like us, and will he come,
You yourself tell the young man to give in to him
Old people the best place? Sit down my dear
Knight, on this bench,” she continued, “only
Sit quietly, don't toss and turn, one leg is unreliable.
The knight carefully took the bench, moved it to the fireplace,
He sat down, and his heart felt so comfortable, as if
He was with dear relatives, returning from a stranger to his homeland.
They began to talk. Knight scout about the terrible
Lesya wanted, but the fisherman was sometimes afraid at night
Start talking about him; but about my lonely
He told a lot about his life and his hard work.
Husband and wife listened eagerly when he spoke to them
The knight about how he visited different lands, like his father
Its castle at the source of the Danube stands, how beautiful
That side; he added: "They call me Gulbrand,
The name of the castle is Ringstetten. So to speak, not once
The knight heard some rustling and splashing outside the window,
Just like someone was spraying water on the glass from the outside.
Every time he frowned with annoyance, hearing splashing,
Old fisherman; but when, like a downpour, suddenly doused the glass,
So that the window rang and splashes flew into the room,
With a heart he jumped up and shouted through the window with a threat: “Ondine!
Full of mischief; ashamed; guests in the hut. Wherein
The word became quiet there, only occasionally was a light
A whisper, as if someone was laughing quietly. "venerable
Guest, do not demand, - said the fisherman, returning to his place. —
Maybe you will see a lot of pranks, but evil
She has no intention. That is our daughter Undine,
Only not a daughter, but a foundling; real baby,
Everything will mischief, but she will be eighteen years old; but the heart
The best thing about her." Shaking her head, old woman
She said: “So you are free to speak; when you are tired
You come home from fishing, then you are funny at your leisure
These leprosy; but, from morning to evening at home eye to eye
Having stayed with her, you can’t get a good word from her -
The matter is different; here the saint will lose his patience.” —
“Enough, old woman,” the fisherman answered, “you are fighting with Ondine,
I am with a bizarre sea: isn't my net often
It spoils and erodes my dams, and everything to me
It’s nice with him: the same is with you, even though sometimes you gasp, however
You love everything Undine. Is not it?" “What is true is true;
It’s impossible to stop loving her at all, ”nodding his head,
The old woman said softly. Suddenly dissolved wide open
Door; and into her, blond, light-bodied, with a cheerful
Ondine fluttered with laughter, like something airy. "Where
Guests, father? Why did you deceive me?" But seeing
Knight, she suddenly fell silent, and her eyes are blue,
Flashing with stars under the dusk of black eyelashes, rushed
Quickly on the guest, and he, amazed by the wonderful phenomenon,
He was rooted to the spot, greedily looked at her and was afraid
Look away: he thought he was dreaming, peer
He hurried into the beautiful image until he disappeared. Undine
She looked for a long time, purple lips opening like a baby;
Suddenly, startled by a frisky bird, she ran up
To the knight, she knelt before him and, with a shiny chain,
To which the sword was hung, playing, she said: “Beautiful,
Dear guest, what fate did you find yourself in our
Hut? For a long time you had to wander around the world, before
Can't find a way to us? Tell me, through our forest
How did you pass? But he did not have time to answer; to Undine
The old woman shouted with her heart: “Leave alone, Ondine,
Guest; get up and get to work." Undine, not a word
Without saying a word to her, she grabbed the bench and, sitting down
Beside Gulbrand with her needlework, she whispered softly:
"That's where I'll be working." Old man pretending not to see
New leprosy of her, wanted to continue; but Undine
The speech interrupted him: “I asked you, my dear
Guest, where did you come from? Will I get an answer?" —
“I came straight from the forest, my beauty.” - "Tell me,
How did you find yourself in the forest and what wonderful things did you see in it?
The knight felt a thrill, remembering the forest; involuntarily
He turned his eyes to the window into which someone
White, it seemed to him, looked; but it was in the window
Empty, thick blackened night behind the glass. Gathered
With spirit, he was ready to begin the story, but the old man hastily
Said to him: "It's not a good time for us now about the forest
start a speech; tell us tomorrow." Hearing this
Ondine jumped up from her seat, and her eyes sparkled.
“Today, not tomorrow, he must tell! today, now!" —
She cried out with her heart, and, furrowing her brows gloomily,
She stamped her small foot on the floor; and at this moment
So amusingly sweet and charming was that in Gulbrand
His heart flared up, and he was even more captivated by the funny,
Her childlike temper, rather than the agility of the former.
But the fisherman, getting angry in earnest, began the eccentric
Strongly rebuke for her stubbornness and daring liberty
With a guest. The old woman approached him. Then Undine said:
"If you want to quarrel with me, but you don't want to
Do what I ask, so goodbye; stay alone
In your boring, smoky shack." With these words
She jumped in the door and disappeared in the darkness in a minute.

V.A. Zhukovsky

Translation from him. N. A. Zhirmunskoy

Verse translations by V. A. Dymshits

old story

There were days of rapturous visions;

My soul blossomed with poetry;

A wonderful genius flew to me with news;

All nature was a song to me.

It has passed, that time is golden;

The magical crown has been removed from nature;

The light recognized its earthly face

Exposed, and the ghosts end.

But about the Dream, like a spring bird,

Singing to me, I remember with delight;

And Charms are a phenomenon out of habit

Admire, as of old, my soul.

There is one here - alive as inspiration,

How clear hope is young

For my soul, her one appearance

Poetry always brings...

Before an empty once cradle

Thoughtfully silent, I stood.

"Who is doomed to a holy housewarming

Are you a tenant?" - I asked fate.

And with the first day that flashed to me

Already a dear guest in that cradle was;

He lay in it under the royal scarlet,

Beautiful, quiet, like God's angel sweet.

Years have passed - and my baby has blossomed,

Beautiful, quiet, like God's angel sweet;

And it seems to me that the sky is a native

Joy in it was sent to earth.

I sometimes meet him here

Like my pure poetry;

I sometimes resurrect my soul with them;

With him, sometimes, forgetting, I sing.

ABOUT HOW THE KNIGHT ARRIVED TO THE FISHERMAN'S HUT

1 For five hundred years or more, it happened that in a clear

spring

Evening sat in front of the door of his hut

aged

An honest fisherman and repaired the net. The side that

He lived, it was a wonderful place. The meadow where I stood

The hut, with a long scythe, entered the wide bosom

Seas: one might think that the coast is fragrant

In light azure, wonderfully clear waters with

Gentle crowded that the sea, wet quivering

Gently clinging to him and hugging him,

captivated

10 The freshness of silk green, the brilliance of flowers and

coolness

Dark wood canopy. True, in that region

There were people: a fisherman with his wife, and nothing more; dense

The forest separated the peninsula from solid land.

That forest was impregnable by its darkness; and rumors

Terrible were about him among the people; it was unclean there.

Evil spirits nested in it and frightened passersby.

So, do not dare to come close to him. But

humble,

The old fisherman was not afraid of hostile spirits; on

He carried the fish to the city that lay behind the forest; full

20 pious thoughts, he entered into its depths, and not

There he did not meet anything, kept by the heavenly

Sitting carelessly that evening behind a net, suddenly he

Noise in the forest, as if the tramp of a horse and iron

Armor sound; he listens: the noise is coming;

He took possession, and all that until then on rainy nights

He dreamed of a mysterious forest, imagined

I think it; especially one, of gigantic growth,

White, always nodding his head strangely.

He looks at the forest with fear, and it seemed to him that in

30 Dele looks through the black branches nodding

Remembering, however, that still no

It happened

Troubles with him either in the forest or in the hut in which

so long

He lived with his wife alone, that unclean over them

not in power

He took courage, read a prayer, and it soon became

Even he laughs when he sees what

Foolish timidity played a trick on him: nodding

Was nothing but a fast-flowing stream, from the middle

Forests running and flowing into the lake with foam;

Heard to them was from a knight: a step on a white

40 A vigorous horse from the thicket of the forest he rode and straight

He approached their hut. Scarlet mantle

His purple was covered, embroidered with gold,

Slim tunic; on a velvet black beret

White feathers; hung at the hip on a precious chain

Sword with a gold handle of skillful work; and white

The knight's horse was stately, strong and alive; he, hoof

Light, barely touching the meadow ant,

air

He walked with his steps and, bending his beautiful neck like a swan,

Gnawing on a bridle drenched in foam. The old man, smitten

50 With the appearance of a stately knight, he left the seine and, having removed

Hat, looked at him with a welcoming smile.

coming closer

The knight said: "Can I find here with a horse

Night refuge?" - "You are welcome, guest

noble;

The best stall for your horse will be our green

Meadow, under the roof of branched trees; and delicious food

He himself will find under his feet; we are willing to you

Let's clean the corner in our wretched dwelling and dinner

We will share the meager with you. "The knight, nodding

He jumped off his horse, unbridled him and across the fresh meadow

60 Let me run; then he said to the fisherman: "You are willing,

Good old man, you accept me, but whenever

You were accommodating, then everything would not have finished with me

The sea, I see, is here in front of us, and the road is far away

There is no; and in the evening late in this damn

God forbid the forest return!" - "We will not

Too much to say now," he said

looking around

The old fisherman led the weary guest into the hut.

There, in front of a bright fire that burned in the fireplace and in

Upper room quivering shine poured, on a chair

70 An elderly fisherman's wife sat with a carved back.

Seeing the guest, the old woman stood up, bowed to him

Seriously and sat down again, to give him without thinking

Your place. The fisherman laughed and said:

"Noble

Knight, please do not charge

that my mistress is her deceased

She saved the chair for herself: we have such a custom;

The best place is always given up to the old.”

De La Motte Fouquet Friedrich

Friedrich De La Motte Fouquet

Translation from him. N. A. Zhirmunskoy

Verse translations by V. A. Dymshits

DEDICATION (1)

Undine, from a memorable day,

When I noticed for a reason

Your wonderful light in the old legend,

Oh how you sang for me.

How often, falling on my chest,

You believed all the grievances

The child is mischievous in appearance

And together a little timid.

And my sensitive lyre

Sounded, responding immediately

After a sad story

What I heard from you.

And the tale of your fate

Liked by readers

Although you are a freak, but right,

Placed them on.

Undine, don't be afraid, no

The reader wants word for word

Hear this story again:

Go, without being embarrassed, into the light.

Be kind, gentlemen

Bow to the nobles humbly,

Your unchanging fans

Say hello to our lovely ladies.

And the ladies will ask about me

Tell them this: "By sword and lyre

In the midst of a ball, festivities, tournament

Your knight serves you doubly."

Chapter first

ABOUT HOW THE KNIGHT ARRIVED TO THE FISHERMAN

Given a long time ago, must have been many hundreds of years ago, there lived a kind old fisherman; one evening he was sitting at his doorstep, mending nets. His hut stood in the middle of a beautiful, friendly countryside. Overgrown with lush green grass, a narrow spit jutted into big lake, affectionately clinging to the clear light blue water, and the waves lovingly extended their arms towards the flowering meadow, swaying grasses and fresh canopy of trees. It seemed that they came to visit each other and that's why they were so beautiful. But there were no people to be seen here, except perhaps the fisherman and his household. For a dense forest approached the spit itself, which many were afraid of - it was very dark and dense, and all kinds of evil spirits were found there, which made God knows what; so it was better not to look there unnecessarily. But the old God-fearing fisherman calmly walked through the forest when he happened to carry to the city, beyond the forest, delicious fish, which he caught on his spit. It must have been because it was so easy for him to go there that he did not hide any evil thoughts in his soul, and besides, every time he entered the darkness of this place glorified by people, he ringing voice and from pure heart sang some spiritual song.

But then, on that evening, when he, not expecting anything bad, was sitting over his nets, an inexplicable fear suddenly attacked him - an indistinct noise came from the forest twilight, he was getting closer and becoming more and more audible, as if a rider was riding a horse. Everything that the old man imagined on rainy nights, all the secrets of the ominous forest, immediately resurrected in his memory, and above all giant figure a mysterious white man who kept nodding his head. What can I say - when he looked in the direction of the forest, it clearly seemed to him that this man nodding his head was standing behind the tangle of leaves. However, he soon controlled himself, judging that so far nothing bad had happened to him even in the forest itself, and only in an open place devilry and can't get the better of him. He immediately loudly full voice and from a pure heart uttered a verse from scripture, this instilled courage in him, and he himself began to laugh at how he could have so misunderstood: the nodding man suddenly turned into a long-familiar forest stream, which rushed its foamy waters into the lake. Well, the noise, as it turned out, was made by a smartly dressed knight on horseback, riding out from under the trees and approaching the hut. His purple cloak was thrown over a blue doublet embroidered with gold, crimson and blue feathers fell from a golden beret; a richly ornamented sword of rare work glittered on a golden baldric; the white stallion beneath him looked slenderer than ordinary battlefields, and walked so lightly on the grass that there were no marks left on the variegated green carpet. The old fisherman was still somehow uneasy, although he had already realized that such a beautiful phenomenon did not promise any danger; he politely took off his hat to the approaching rider and calmly continued mending his nets. The knight stopped and asked if he and his horse could find shelter here for the night.

As for the horse, my lord, - answered the fisherman, - I have no better stable for him than this lawn protected by trees, and better food, man! grass that grows on it. I am happy to offer you to share with me the dinner and lodging that the Lord himself sent me.

The knight was quite pleased with this, he dismounted, with the help of a fisherman, unsaddled and unbridled his horse and, letting it graze freely on a flowering lawn, said to the owner:

Even if you turned out to be less hospitable and friendly, good old man, you still wouldn’t get rid of me today; after all, in front of us is a large lake, and to set off at night looking back through this forest with its curiosities - God save us and have mercy!

Better not talk about it! - said the fisherman and led the guest to the hut.

There, by the hearth, which illuminated the half-dark neat room with a meager glow of fire, an old woman, the wife of a fisherman, was sitting in a high chair. At the sight of a noble guest, she stood up and bowed affably to him, but then again took her place of honor, without offering it to the stranger, to which the fisherman remarked with a smile:

Do not ask, young master, that she did not give you the best seat in the house; such is the custom among us poor people, the most convenient place is reserved for the elderly.

Eh, hubby, - the wife said with a calm smile. - What's got into your head? After all, our guest is not some kind of non-Christ, so does he really want to drive the old man out of his place? Sit down,” she continued, turning to the knight, “there is another chair over there, quite suitable, just look, don’t fidget and don’t move it too much, otherwise one of its legs is not very strong.

The knight cautiously drew up a chair, sank down on it with a smile, and his soul suddenly became so light, as if he had long been at home in this little house and now just returned here from afar.

A friendly conversation ensued between these three glorious people. True, the old man did not really want to talk about the forest, about which the knight strove to ask more, and least of all now, looking at the night; well, the spouses talked about their household and other affairs very willingly and listened with curiosity to the stories of the knight about his wanderings and that he had a castle at the source of the Danube, and that his name was Mr. Huldbrand von Ringstetten 2. During the conversation, the guest more than once something like splashing was heard at the low window, as if someone were splashing water into it. The old man frowned displeasedly at this sound every time; and when, finally, a whole jet hit the glass, and the spray fell through the ill-fitting frame into the upper room, he got up angrily and shouted menacingly towards the window:

Undine! Will you ever stop being naughty? And besides, today we have a guest in the house.

Outside, everything was silent, then someone's soft chuckle was heard, and the fisherman said, returning to his place:

Excuse her, honorable guest, maybe she will throw out some other thing, but this is without malicious intent. This is our adopted daughter Undine; still can’t wean herself from childish manners, although she has entered her eighteenth year. But she has a good heart - I tell you right!

Yes, it's good to talk to you! said the old woman, shaking her head. You will return from fishing or there from the city and her jokes seem cute to you. But when she turns around in front of her nose day and night, but you won’t hear a single good word from her, and there’s no help in the household - at my age! - and besides, you are always afraid that she might ruin us with her stupidities - that's a completely different matter, here even a saint will not endure!

All right, all right, - the owner chuckled. - You have Undine, I have a lake. After all, it sometimes tears my nets and breaks through the tops, but still I love him, and you - in spite of all the trouble - love this sweet little girl. Is not it?

And that’s true, you can’t really be angry with her, ”the old woman answered, nodding her head with a smile.

At that moment the door opened and a fair-haired girl of striking beauty slid into the room with a laugh.

Introduction

There were days of rapturous visions;

My soul blossomed with poetry;

A wonderful genius flew to me with news;

All nature was a song to me.

It has passed, that time is golden;

The magical crown has been removed from nature;

The light recognized its earthly face

Exposed, and the ghosts end.

But about the Dream, like a spring bird,

Singing to me, I remember with delight;

And Charms are a phenomenon out of habit

Admire, as of old, my soul.

There is one here - alive as inspiration,

How clear hope is young -

For my soul, her one appearance

Poetry always leads ...

Before an empty once cradle

Thoughtfully silent, I stood.

"Who is doomed to a holy housewarming

Are you a tenant?" I asked fate.

And with the first day that flashed to me

Already a dear guest in that cradle was;

He lay in it under the royal scarlet,

Beautiful, quiet, like God's angel sweet.

Years have passed - and my baby has blossomed,

Beautiful, quiet, like God's angel sweet;

And it seems to me that the sky is a native

Joy in it was sent to earth.

I sometimes meet him here

Like my pure poetry;

I sometimes resurrect my soul with them;

With him, sometimes, forgetting, I sing.

About how the knight came to the fisherman's hut.

For five hundred years or more, it happened that on a clear spring

Evening sat in front of the door of his old hut

An honest fisherman and repaired the net. The side that

He lived, it was a wonderful place. The meadow where I stood

The hut, with a long scythe, entered the wide bosom

Seas: one might think that the coast is fragrant

In light azure, wonderfully clear waters with love

Gentle crowded, like the sea, with a wet quivering chest

Gently clinging to him and hugging him, captivated

The freshness of silk greenery, the brilliance of flowers and the coolness

Dark wood canopy. True, there is little in the region

There were people: a fisherman with his wife, and nothing more; dense

The forest separated the peninsula from solid land. And terrible

That forest was impregnable by its darkness; and rumors

Terrible were about him among the people; it was unclean there.

Evil spirits nested in it and frightened passersby.

So, do not dare to come close to him. But humble

The old fisherman was not afraid of hostile spirits; for sale

He carried the fish to the city that lay behind the forest; full

Pious thoughts, he entered into its depths, and not once

There he did not meet anything, kept by heavenly power,

Sitting carelessly that evening behind a net, he suddenly heard

Noise in the forest, as if the tramp of a horse and iron

Armor sound; he listens: the noise is coming; timidity

He took possession, and all that until then on rainy nights

He dreamed of a mysterious forest, imagined at once

I think it; especially one, of gigantic growth,

White, always nodding his head strangely. Into the dark

He looks at the forest with fear, and it seemed to him that in the very

A nodding ghost peers through the black branches of Dele.

Remembering, however, that everything has not yet happened

Troubles with him either in the forest, or in the hut, in which for so long

He lived with his wife alone, that the unclean had no power over them,

He took courage, read a prayer, and it soon became

Even he laughs when he sees what

Foolish timidity played a trick on him: a nodding image

Was nothing but a fast-flowing stream, from the middle

Forests running and flowing into the lake with foam; the noise,

Heard to them was from a knight: a step on a white

A vigorous horse from the thicket of the forest he rode and straight

He approached their hut. Scarlet mantle

His purple was covered, embroidered with gold,

Slim tunic; curled on a velvet black beret

White feathers; hung at the hip on a precious chain

Sword with a gold handle of skillful work; and white

The knight's horse was stately, strong and alive; he, hoof

Light, barely touching the meadow ant, airy

He walked with his steps and, bending his beautiful neck like a swan,

Gnawing on a bridle drenched in foam. The old man, smitten

With the appearance of a stately knight, he left the seine and, taking off

Hat, looked at him with a welcoming smile. coming closer

The knight said: “Can I find here with a horse this

Night refuge? - “You are welcome, noble guest;

The best stall for your horse will be our green

Meadow, under the roof of branched trees; and delicious food

He himself will find under his feet; we are willing to you

Let's clean the corner in our wretched dwelling and dinner

We will share the meager with you. Knight nodding his head

He jumped off his horse, unbridled him and across the fresh meadow

Let him run; then he said to the fisherman: “You are willing,

Good old man, you accept me, but when and not so much

If you were accommodating, then everything would not be finished with me today:

The sea, I see, is here in front of us, and the road is far away

There is no; and in the evening late in this damn

God save the forest to return!” - "Let's not talk about it

Too much to say now," he said, looking around,

The old fisherman led the weary guest into the hut.

There, in front of a bright fire that burned in the fireplace and in a clean

Upper room quivering brilliance poured, on a wide chair

An elderly fisherman's wife sat with a carved back.

Seeing the guest, the old woman stood up, bowed to him

Seriously and sat down again, to give him without thinking

Your place. The fisherman, laughing, said: "Noble

Knight, please do not recover that my mistress is her deceased

She saved the chair for herself: we have such a custom;

The best place is always given over to the old.” - "What you,

Grandfather! said the hostess with a gentle smile. - After all, our guest,

It's true, a man of Christ like us, and will he come,

You yourself tell the young man to give in to him

Old people the best place? Sit down my dear

Knight, on this bench,” she continued, “only

Sit quietly, don't toss and turn, one leg is unreliable.

The knight carefully took the bench, moved it to the fireplace,

He sat down, and his heart felt so comfortable, as if

He was with dear relatives, returning from a stranger to his homeland.

They began to talk. Knight scout about the terrible

Lesya wanted, but the fisherman was sometimes afraid at night

Start talking about him; but about my lonely

He told a lot about his life and his hard work.

Husband and wife listened eagerly when he spoke to them

The knight about how he visited different lands, like his father

Its castle at the source of the Danube stands, how beautiful

That side; he added: "They call me Gulbrand,

The name of the castle is Ringstetten. So to speak, not once

The knight heard some rustling and splashing outside the window,

Just like someone was spraying water on the glass from the outside.

Every time he frowned with annoyance, hearing splashing,

Old fisherman; but when, like a downpour, suddenly doused the glass,

So that the window rang and splashes flew into the room,

With a heart he jumped up and shouted through the window with a threat: “Ondine!

Full of mischief; ashamed; guests in the hut. Wherein

The word became quiet there, only occasionally was a light

A whisper, as if someone was laughing quietly. "venerable

Guest, do not demand, - said the fisherman, returning to his place, -

Maybe you will see a lot of pranks, but evil

She has no intention. That is our daughter Undine,

Only not a daughter, but a foundling; real baby,

Everything will mischief, but she will be eighteen years old; but the heart

The best thing about her." Shaking her head, old woman

She said: “So you are free to speak; when you are tired

You come home from fishing, then you are funny at your leisure

These leprosy; but from morning to evening at home eye to eye

Having stayed with her, you can’t get a good word from her -

The matter is different; here the saint will lose his patience.”

“Enough, old woman,” the fisherman answered, “you are fighting with Ondine,

I am with a bizarre sea: isn't my net often

It spoils and erodes my dams, and everything to me

Ljubo with him; so are you, though sometimes you gasp, however

You love everything Undine. Is not it?" “What is true is true;

It’s impossible to stop loving her at all, ”nodding his head,

The old woman said softly. Suddenly dissolved wide open

The door, and in it a blond, light figure, with a cheerful

Ondine fluttered with laughter, like something airy (2). "Where

Guests, father? Why did you deceive me?" But seeing

Knight, she suddenly fell silent, and her eyes are blue,

Flashing with stars under the dusk of black eyelashes, rushed

Quickly on the guest, and he, amazed by the wonderful phenomenon,

He was rooted to the spot, greedily looked at her and was afraid

Look away: he thought he was dreaming, and peer

He hurried into the beautiful image until he disappeared. Undine

She looked for a long time, purple lips opening like a baby;

Suddenly, startled by a frisky bird, she ran up

To the knight, she knelt before him and, with a shiny chain,

To which the sword was hung, playing, she said: “Beautiful,

Dear guest, what fate did you find yourself in our

Hut? For a long time you should have wandered around the world before,

Can't find a way to us? Tell me, through our forest

How did you pass? But he did not have time to answer: to Ondine

The old woman shouted with her heart: “Leave alone, Ondine,

Guest: Get up and get to work. Undine, not a word

Without saying a word to her, she grabbed the bench and, sitting down

Beside Gulbrand with her needlework, she whispered softly:

"That's where I'll work," The old man, pretending not to see

New leprosy of her, wanted to continue; but Undine

The speech interrupted him: “I asked you, my dear

Guest, where did you come from? Will I get an answer?" —

“I came straight from the forest, my beauty.” - "Tell me,

How did you find yourself in the forest and what wonderful things did you see in it?

The knight felt a thrill, remembering the forest; involuntarily

He turned his eyes to the window into which someone

White, it seemed to him, looked: but it was in the window

Empty, thick blackened night behind the glass. Gathered

With spirit, he was ready to begin the story, but the old man hastily

Said to him: "It's not a good time for us now about the forest

start a speech; tell us tomorrow." Hearing this

Ondine jumped up from her seat, and her eyes sparkled,

“Today, not tomorrow, he must tell! today, now!" —

She cried out with her heart, and, furrowing her brows gloomily,

She stamped her small foot on the floor; and at this moment

So amusingly sweet and charming was that in Gulbrand

His heart flared up, and he was even more captivated by the funny,

Her childlike temper, rather than the agility of the former.

But the fisherman, getting angry in earnest, began the eccentric

Strongly rebuke for her stubbornness and daring liberty

With a guest, the Old Woman stuck to him. Then Undine said:

"If you want to quarrel with me, but you don't want to

Do what I ask, so goodbye; stay alone

In your boring, smoky shack." With these words

She jumped in the door and disappeared in the darkness in a minute.

About how Ondine first appeared in the hut to the fishermen.

The knight jumped up, followed by the fisherman, and both rushed

At the door to keep her, but in vain: Undine so quickly

She disappeared so that it was even impossible to guess at what

She decided to run away. With a frightened look

The knight asked the fisherman: what to do? "This is not the first

Once, - the fisherman grumbled, - such shoots often

She amuses us; now i have to do it again

Toss and turn sideways all night long without sleep

On my side on my hard bed: after all, what can

See you at night! “Why delay? Let's go quickly

Themselves for her, - "Labor is useless; you see what

Darkness in the yard: where shall we go? And who can guess

Where did she hide? "We will at least," he added.

Knight, at least call her. And he began to shout: “Undine!

Where are you, Undine? The old man shook his head, "As you wish,

Knight, shout, she won't answer us, oh, that's right

Somewhere close sits; still you don't know what

This is a stubborn one, "So saying, the old man with anxiety

IN dark night looked and could not bear to go there

Following Gulbrand, do not shout: “Undinochka! Darling! where are you?"

However, he predicted the truth: there is no Ondine

Did not have. After screaming in vain for a long time, they finally returned

Both to the hut; it was already dark there, and the old woman,

Less than a husband about what will happen to Ondine, caring,

She lay down to sleep, and in the fireplace the fire, having burnt out, went out;

Only a few coals smoldered, and blue flames

Flickering from time to time, the trembling light poured into the extinguished.

Lighting the fire again, the fisherman filled a large

A mug of wine and put it in front of the guest. "Both of us,

Knight, we can hardly fall asleep; so wouldn't it be better when we

Instead of hard matting in insomnia

Rub the sinful body, let's sit by the fire and for good

Shall we talk about both with a glass of wine? How are you

Do you think, my good guest? Gulbrand agreed willingly.

Forcing him to sit down on the honorary abandoned chair,

An honest old man placed himself next to him, and now, in a friendly manner,

They began to talk; only at every slightest

Rustle - will something knock on the window, and even often

Just without any knock and rustle - suddenly fell silent

Both and, raising a finger, fixed their eyes

At the door, listened; everyone whispered: go! and not here

Was; nobody walked; and, sighing, they began

Your conversation again. "Tell me," he said at last.

Knight, how did you happen to find Ondine? - "That's how

It happened,” the fisherman replied. - He's already twelve.

Will be years like me with my goods through this

The forest was to go to the city; I left my wife

At home, as it always happened, but at that time it was necessary

She was at home to stay, Why, you ask? Lord us

In our late summers, he gave a beautiful daughter;

How was it to leave her? Selling my goods

I was returning home and, I don’t want to lie, it didn’t happen

It’s okay for me, as before, to meet an unkind person in the forest;

God accompanied me every time through this

I managed to go through a terrible forest, and with it a dangerous

The path is not safe." At this word, the old man with tender

He seemed to take off his cap from his head and, clasping his hands,

In pious thoughts he fell silent for two minutes; then he

He put on his hat again and continued like this: “I am with a cheerful

He returned home with his heart, and misfortune awaited at home:

My wife ran up to me in tears.

"King of heaven! What's happened? I exclaimed. - Where is our

Daughter?" - "She is with the one whose name at this moment,

My poor husband, you are calling, ”the wife answered. And silently

Weeping bitterly, I followed her into the hut; body

I looked for my dear little baby with my eyes there, along the body

Did not have. Here's how it happened: with our baby

By the water, on the grass, the wife sat calmly;

She played with him in carefree fun; suddenly baby

Strongly stretched to the water, as if something miraculous

In light jets; and the wife sees that our dear

The angel laughs, grasping something with his little hands; but this

Instantly, as if by some invisible force, it was thrown

In the waves of a child, and in their depths the poor thing was gone.

For a long time I searched for the body, but in vain, nowhere are signs

Did not have. Here we are, in old age, two orphans, in a bleak

Grief sat that evening together by the fire and were silent:

If it were possible to speak from tears, then it would not be

spirit; and so we were both silent, eyes fixed

Into the dim fire; when suddenly a light was heard at the door

Rustle; they dissolved - and what do we see? Wonderful

Charms girl, six years old, in a rich dress,

We are smiling like an angel, standing on the threshold. At first

We did not call in amazement whether it was a living little man

Or some deceptive ghost; but soon noticed

I am like water from golden curls and from a baby's dress!

Kapala; I thought that, right, baby recently

Was in the water and what ambulance needed. And, sighing

So I said to my wife; "No one thought to save us

Our dear child; at least we ourselves

Let's do something for others that others could not do for us

To do what on earth would be our bliss.”

We undressed the baby, put her to bed and get drunk

They gave her hot; and she was silent and only,

Looking at us with bright heavenly eyes, she smiled.

She soon fell asleep and was fresh as a spring flower,

Woke up in the morning; when did we start asking where

She was born and how she got into our hut, I'm not sure

There was none of her in the strange answers; and now

Exactly twelve years since he lives with us, and to achieve

We could not get anything good from her; by stories

It's easy for her absurd to think that she fell to us

Directly from the moon: about some castles transparent, pearly

Grottoes, coral groves and various other tales

She repeats everything now, as she repeated then; succeeded

Find out only one thing, that, riding on the sea in a boat

With her mother, she fell into the water and that the waves on the local

They brought her to the shore, where she woke up ... In doubt

We remained heavy: although it was not difficult

We decide instead of our own lost daughter

Take someone else's, given to us by God himself; but didn't know

We, is she baptized or not? Tell me about it

The poor thing could not do anything to us, although it is understandable

It was to her that she lived according to the will of the Lord

In this world, although I was humbly ready

To fulfill all that is in accordance with the will of the Lord. And that's what

In such difficulty, together with my wife, we came up with:

If she hasn't been baptized yet, she shouldn't

Slow minutes; and if already baptized, then twice

The duty of a saint to perform will not be sin. But what

Give her a name? And it occurred to us that her Dorothea

It would be most decent to say: we heard what it means

This name is a gift from God, she was merciful

The Lord God granted our sorrows to the fence.

But she did not want to know about this name. "Undine

My father and mother called me; want to stay

Forever Undine! But was that Christian name

We didn't know. And so I followed the priest into the city;

He agreed to come to us; first the name of Undine

It was disgusting to him, as well as to us; but our little one

In her strange dress, she was so wonderfully beautiful,

So caressed to him and at the same time so sweet,

I argued with him so amusingly that he himself could not

He resisted her, and she was christened Undine.

It was sweet to look at her in the continuation of the saint

Sacraments: wild playfulness disappeared, and quiet, humble

She stood like a lamb, as if feeling that with her

It was happening at this time. Tell the truth, a lot

We’ll have trouble with her, and if you tell me everything ... ”But the knight

Here he interrupted the fisherman; he whispered, “Listen! listen!

What is there? More than once during the story he was alarmed

The sound of water; but at that moment was clearly audible

The roar of the stream that ran with increasing force

Past the hut. Both jumped up and rushed through the door;

In the moonlight it was revealed to them that the brook that comes out

From the forest, spilling heavily, moving stones, breaking

With a crackling trees, the sea fled; and all the sky was

Just like the sea, agitated; the clouds rolled down the mountains

Past the moon, blocking it every minute, and wonderfully

The whole neighborhood trembled under the brilliance and darkness; when whistling

He raised his own and how, hiding from the top to the root,

Trees bent and noisily knocked down branches. "Undine!..

My heavenly king!.. Ondine!” the old man shouted; but the answer

Did not have. Both then ran, forgetting about the storm,

Each on his own way, to the forest, and loudly at the noise

Wind in the depths of the night was heard: “Undine! Undine!"

How Undine Was Found

The knight felt strange, wandering in the darkness

Nights, under the noise of a storm, alone, in a useless search:

Again it began to seem to him that Ondine was only a ghost,

IN dark forest his deceived, was; and when whistling

A whirlwind, with the thunder of water, with the crackling of trees, with a wonderful

In just a minute, such a peacefully beautiful country was turned into

He began to think that the sea, meadow, spring, fishing

The hut, the old fisherman and everything that happened to him,

It was a hoax; but the plaintive cry of the old man, calling Undine,

He heard everything from a distance. Finally found myself

It is on the very edge of the forest stream, which is in flood

In his storm he ran a wide muddy river,

So that the cape cut off from the forest, on which stood

The hut became an island. "God! The knight thought

That when Undine ventured into the forest, and back to her

There is no road from there, and there are evil ghosts

Is she crying alone in the dark? Screaming in horror,

He hurriedly picked up a huge oak tree from the ground,

A bough trampled by a storm, so that, holding on to it, get over

In the forest through the water. Although he himself trembled, remembering

Everything that I saw there the day before; although it seemed

At that moment, he, who was standing there, is even with the trees,

The white giant, too familiar to him, and baring his teeth

Teeth, nodded his head to him, - but this very horror

Just now, with greater force, he dragged him into the forest: there Ondine

In fear, alone, without protection. And now he stepped

With a bold foot in boiling water, when suddenly not far

evil flow; the old man is angry and deceitful." Familiar

The knight had lovely sounds; they fell silent;

He stood in the water, looked around and listened; but a month

A dark cloud covered, and the waves quickly rushed,

Washing his feet, and he, holding on by strength,

He was in a daze, and his head was spinning; and eyes

After searching for a long time in the dark, he finally exclaimed: “Ondine!

You're Lee? Where are you? If you don't want to come, I'll throw myself

Himself in the stream behind you; respond; I'd rather die

Than to be without you. And he went deeper into the water.

At that moment the moon came out of the cloud, and the knight

In its brilliance I saw Undine. There was a small island

Near the shore, a stream is formed by a rapid overflow;

There, under a canopy of dense trees, nestled in the grass,

Ondine sat like a bright ghost. It wasn't hard

At this point the stream crossed, and Gulbrand found himself

Instantly near Undine on soft grass; she got up,

Arms wrapped around his neck and involuntarily

Planted next to her. "Now you tell me, baby,

Our story,” she whispered, “we are alone; old people us

Here they will not hear and with their boring grumbling they cannot

to interfere with us; and this thick wood roof

It is worth their smoky hut. - "Here is paradise, Ondine!" - exclaimed

Knight, pressing her to his chest with a hot kiss.

At that moment the fisherman, having searched in vain for Ondine,

He approached the place and saw them from the shore. "Knight! —

He shouted, “You are doing a disgraceful deed; us

You were trustingly accepted; and now you are embracing

With our daughter, whispering with her secretly and left

In fear of me, an old man, alone in an empty way behind her

Run in the dark." “I myself,” answered the knight, “only

At that moment I met her." - "All the better; - rather

Both come to me here on solid ground.

But Undine did not want to hear about it; and better

In the terrible forest, she agreed with the sweet, beautiful

To go as a guest than to an unbearable hut where they did not want to

To do what she asked, and from where

Sooner or later the lovely guest will leave. snuggling up

Strongly to him, she sang harmoniously, softly,

“In the stuffy valley, the wave sadly trembles and beats;

Having poured into the sea, it will not flow back from the sea.

The fisherman wept bitterly when he heard that song; her own

Tears did not seem to touch her: to the knight from the nursery

She pressed gently. But the knight said to her: "Undine,

Can't you see how your father is crying? Don't be stubborn; we should

You must return to him." In silent amazement, Undine

Quickly your Blue eyes directed at him

Then she meekly said: “When you think so, dear,

I agree". And with a submissive look, lowering your eyes,

She got up; and, taking her in your arms, it is safe

The knight has crossed the stream. Old man with tears on his neck

He rushed to her and was in joy like a child; came running

Soon the old woman will join them; his returned daughter

They kissed tenderly; there were no reproaches; in good

Undine's heart was also quiet, and they were embraced by

With kindness of her heart, she asked for forgiveness, laughed.

She cried, she gave them all the cute names. And the morning

Toya sometimes occupied, and the storm subsided, and the birds

They began to sing on the fresh, pearly branches;

It became light, and Undine began to start again

To the knight with a request to begin his story. And so agreed

Bring breakfast under the trees. Undine sat down nimbly

Near Gulbrand's feet on the grass; another place

I did not want to choose; and the knight began to speak.

About what happened to the knight in the forest.

“For more than a week now, since I was in that free imperial

The city that lies beyond your forest has arrived;

There was a tournament, and the knights broke their spears diligently.

I spared neither myself nor the horse. Approaching the fence

Fields to take a break from fun work I am wearing mine

He took it off and gave it to the shield-bearer; and at this moment

I see a girl in a rich attire on the near altan,

Wonderful charm. It was young Bertalda -

I was told - the pet of a noble duke, in the near

The castle of the living. It seemed to me that with a gentle look

She looks at me, and a double fire lit up in me.

cheerfulness; I fought diligently before, but from this moment

Things went differently. And in the evening with her alone

I danced; and so it went on in all the rest

Tournament Days. At that moment the knight felt

Severe pain in lowered left arm; looking back

He sees that Ondine, clenching her pearly teeth

A finger to him, she furrowed her brows angrily, and in her eyes,

Brightly glowing, tears ran (4); then, on Gulbrand

With a sad look of reproach, she threatened him

finger; then she sighed, then bowed her head.

The knight, embarrassed, fell silent for a moment; then he tells his story

So he continued: “Bertalda is beautiful, one must admit;

But too proud and bizarre; me for the second time

I liked her than the first time, and the third time I

Than in the second. However, it seemed to me that

Of all the others, I was noticed by her, and this flattered me.

So I took it into my head to ask her for a glove

She gave me hers. "I will give," she answered.

With a proud smile of Bertald, if you dare, knight,

Travel alone to enchanted forest ours and true news

Bring me what's going on in it." Glove

I was not the road; but the knight would be ashamed

Reject such a challenge from myself, and I agreed. —

"Didn't she love you?" Undine asked.

“She liked me,” the knight answered, “so it seemed to me.” —

"ABOUT! she is so mad,” cried Undine loudly,

Clapping your hands with joyful laughter. - Who is not insane?

He will separate himself from the sweetheart and voluntarily turn him into a magical

Forest on a dangerous business will send? I wouldn't have expected

This forest is such an unheard-of honor." - "Early

yesterday morning,” continued Gulbrand, smiling at Undine, “

I hit the road. Trees shone calmly

In the brilliance of the dawn, lying in stripes on the green of the turf;

It was fresh; the fragrant leaves whispered so sweetly;

Everything was so beckoning under the transparent dusk that I involuntarily

Angry at stupid people, whom the monsters in paradise

Such a place could be imagined. I drove into the thicket;

Little by little everything became deserted and quiet; thickening

The forest in front of me and behind me moved, as if grabbing

A thousand magical hands me. Fearing a return

The way to lose, I kept my horse: see if it's high

There was sun, I wanted; I raise my eyes and what

I see? Something black sways in the oak branches.

I thought it was a bear; I bare hastily

They shouted to me: “By the way, welcome; welcome;

We already broke dry branches, so that there was something for us

Roast your grace." Then, with disgustingly wild

Baring his teeth with laughter, the monster made such a noise

Oak branches that my horse, shying away, rushed past

Jump, and I did not have time to see which one was nesting there

Devil", With this name, the fisherman and the old woman with a prayer

crossed; Undine whispered softly:

It's better, in my opinion, that you are not fried, my dear

Knight, and that you are with us. Tell me more." - "My horse

Rushed like crazy, - the knight said, - I did not have to own it

Forces; suddenly there is a rapid in front of us, and he rides with me

Right into her; but at the very moment someone

Long, huge, gray-haired, cutting our way,

Suddenly he fell in front of a wild horse, and the horse, recoiling,

I became, and again I mastered it. I look around - what is it?

My savior was not a gray-haired giant, but a brilliant

Foamy stream that ran down the hill "-" Thank you, dear,

Good stream, ”Screamed, clapping her hands, Ondine,

Sighing heavily and frowning, the fisherman shook his head;

The knight told far away: “Having gathered the occasion, I strengthened

I'm on the saddle. Suddenly I see a man standing

Next to the horse, disgusting, dirty hunchback, earthen

The color of the face, and the nose is huge, such that it seemed

He was as long as the rest of the freak's body.

He laughed, bared his teeth, shuffled his feet,

Bent into an arc. I pushed him away and, turning my horse,

I was ready to set off on my way back (already bowed

The sun, while I raced, far past noon); but the dwarf

Sprouting like a cat, he blocked the horse's path. "Beware -

I screamed, "I'll crush you." But the freak, distorted, again

He began to squeal: “First, pay for the work; you are in the abyss

Together with the horse, I would have flown off whenever I had turned up. —

“You are lying, sly,” I said, “not you, but this source

Saved us from falling. But here's your money; leave us

Give way." And throwing one gold coin

In a hat freak, I went faster; but came again

He is next to me; I spur a horse; the horse gallops, but from the side

The dwarf also jumps, grimacing, distorting, with laughter, with a squeal,

Sticking out a red tongue as long as a cubit. So that soon

To untie him, I throw a gold coin again

In his hat; but, with a wild laugh, bared his teeth,

He began to shout: “Fake gold! Lots of gold

I've got! look! admire!" And at this moment

It seemed to me that the earthly womb suddenly brightened up;

The turf became a transparent emerald; my gaze is free

Could penetrate into the depths through it; and then I opened

The underground region of the gnomes: they were homosexual, swarming,

Clumped into clubs, twisted, developed, raked metals,

Ruby, and sapphire, and emerald were poured into heaps and let

A whirlwind of golden sand into each other's eyes. My companion

Quickly rushed up and down; and they gave him

Huge gold bars; showing them to me with laughter,

Each he threw into the abyss, and, from the abyss to the abyss with a ringing

Falling, everything in the depths disappeared. Then he coin

Given by me, he threw it with a piercing laugh into the abyss;

With laughter, hissing, whistling they answered him from the abyss,

All of a sudden they all got up and, crowding, pushing, climbed

Upward, clawed, metal-dusted fingers

Everything is open for me; the whole abyss seemed to boil;

Heap after heap, thicker and thicker, closer and closer...

Horror overcame me; giving spurs to the horse, without looking back

I rode ... and I don’t know how long I rode; but waking up

I see that there is no one; the ghosts are gone; chilly

It was in the forest, and the evening had already come. Through the trees

Pale flashed the path leading from the forest to the city.

I hasten to drive up this path; but something gray

Unsteady, smoke is not smoke, fog is not fog, every minute

Changing my view, it became between the branches and blocked me

Path; I try to go around it, but wherever I go -

There it is; angry, I jump ahead; but towards

Foam splatters me, and I'm doused with a cold shower, and breaks

My horse is back; blinded, soaked to the bone, I rush

Right and left, but I still can't get on the path,

White won't let me in at all. I'll try

To go back - he is on my heels, but humble and will

The way to continue gives me; but just back on the path

I’ll drive in - he’s here, and again obscures her, and cold

It gives me foam. Finally, reluctantly, I chose

That road to which he pressed me so stubbornly;

He calmed down, but he didn’t leave me behind and behind me

It moved like a pale misty column; when did it happen

I look around, it seemed to me that this huge

A pillar with a head that rested against me dimly and vigilantly

With a strange kind of blinking eyes and nodding

Every time the head, as if urging me

Drive forward. But sometimes it just seemed to me that this

My strange persecutor was a forest waterfall. Finally I

Leaving the forest, I found myself here and met you,

Good people. Then my stubborn companion also disappeared.

The knight finished his story. "We are glad to see you, noble

Our guest, - said the fisherman, - but it's time for us to think about it,

How would you get back to the city? Undine, having heard

These words, I began to laugh quietly to myself

With a satisfied look. Then the knight, noticing, said to her: “Ondine,

Are you glad to be separated from me? What are you laughing at? —

“I already know what,” answered Ondine. — Taste

Cross this angry stream - on horseback or in a boat,

Whatever - but no, it will not work! and by the sea ... for a long time I

I know that this cannot be done; and father is near

He goes to sea with his boat. So stay

With us, whether glad, not glad. That's what I'm laughing at."

The knight stood up with a smile to see if it was so,

What did Undine say? the fisherman also got up; and behind them

Followed by her. And indeed, everything was overturned

Storm in the forest; the stream overflowed, and became a peninsula

Island. The knight could not even think about returning, and must

Involuntarily, he waited until he poured into the shore

Flow again. Returning to the hut next to Undine,

He whispered to her: “What do you say, Undine? Glad to be with you

Am I staying? "Full, full," she grumbled,

Frowning your brows, don't you dare bite your finger,

You shouldn't have told us about that insufferable Bertalda."

About how the knight lived with a fisherman in a hut.

Perhaps, dear reader, it has happened to you in your life,

Wandering here and there for a long time, to fall on such

The place where you felt good, where you live in everyone

Heart love for home life, for the family world

With new strength awakened in you; and again you saw

Current page: 1 (total book has 5 pages)

De La Motte Fouquet Friedrich
Undine

Friedrich De La Motte Fouquet

Translation from him. N. A. Zhirmunskoy

Verse translations by V. A. Dymshits

DEDICATION (1)

Undine, from a memorable day,

When I noticed for a reason

Your wonderful light in the old legend,

Oh how you sang for me.

How often, falling on my chest,

You believed all the grievances

The child is mischievous in appearance

And together a little timid.

And my sensitive lyre

Sounded, responding immediately

After a sad story

What I heard from you.

And the tale of your fate

Liked by readers

Although you are a freak, but right,

Placed them on.

Undine, don't be afraid, no

The reader wants word for word

Hear this story again:

Go, without being embarrassed, into the light.

Be kind, gentlemen

Bow to the nobles humbly,

Your unchanging fans

Say hello to our lovely ladies.

And the ladies will ask about me

Tell them this: "By sword and lyre

In the midst of a ball, festivities, tournament

Your knight serves you doubly."

Chapter first

ABOUT HOW THE KNIGHT ARRIVED TO THE FISHERMAN

Long ago, probably many hundreds of years ago, there lived a kind old fisherman in the world; one evening he was sitting at his doorstep, mending nets. His hut stood in the middle of a beautiful, friendly countryside. Overgrown with lush green grass, a narrow spit jutted out into a large lake, affectionately clinging to the transparent light blue water, and the waves lovingly extended their arms towards the flowering meadow, swaying grasses and fresh canopy of trees. It seemed that they came to visit each other and that's why they were so beautiful. But there were no people to be seen here, except perhaps the fisherman and his household. For a dense forest approached the very spit, which many were afraid of - it was very dark and dense, and all kinds of evil spirits were found there, which made God knows what; so it was better not to look there unnecessarily. But the old God-fearing fisherman calmly walked through the forest when he happened to carry to the city, beyond the forest, delicious fish, which he caught on his spit. It must have been because it was so easy for him to go there, because he did not harbor any evil thoughts in his soul, and besides, each time, entering the darkness of this place glorified by people, he in a ringing voice and from a pure heart dragged on some spiritual song.

But then, on that evening, when he, not expecting anything bad, was sitting over his nets, an inexplicable fear suddenly attacked him - an indistinct noise came from the forest twilight, he was getting closer and becoming more and more audible, as if a rider was riding a horse. Everything that the old man imagined on rainy nights, all the secrets of the ominous forest, immediately resurfaced in his memory, and above all the gigantic figure of a mysterious white man who constantly nodded his head. But what to say - when he looked in the direction of the forest, it clearly seemed to him that this man nodding his head was standing behind the tangle of leaves. However, he soon controlled himself, judging that so far nothing bad had happened to him even in the forest itself, and even in an open place, evil spirits would not be able to take over him at all. He immediately uttered a verse from the Holy Scriptures loudly, in a full voice and from a pure heart, this instilled courage in him, and it became ridiculous for him how he could have said so: the nodding man suddenly turned into a long-familiar forest stream, which sought its foamy waters in the lake. Well, the noise, as it turned out, was made by a smartly dressed knight on horseback, riding out from under the trees and approaching the hut. His purple cloak was thrown over a blue doublet embroidered with gold, crimson and blue feathers fell from a golden beret; a richly ornamented sword of rare work glittered on a golden baldric; the white stallion beneath him looked slenderer than ordinary battlefields, and walked so lightly on the grass that there were no marks left on the variegated green carpet. The old fisherman was still somehow uneasy, although he had already realized that such a beautiful phenomenon did not promise any danger; he politely took off his hat to the approaching rider and calmly continued mending his nets. The knight stopped and asked if he and his horse could find shelter here for the night.

“As for the horse, my lord,” replied the fisherman, “I have no better stable for him than this lawn protected by trees, and better food, man!” grass that grows on it. I am happy to offer you to share with me the dinner and lodging that the Lord himself sent me.

The knight was quite pleased with this, he dismounted, with the help of a fisherman, unsaddled and unbridled his horse and, letting it graze freely on a flowering lawn, said to the owner:

- Even if you were less cordial and friendly, good old man, you still wouldn’t get rid of me today; after all, in front of us is a large lake, and to set off at night looking back through this forest with its curiosities - God save us and have mercy!

"Better not talk about it!" - said the fisherman and led the guest to the hut.

There, by the hearth, which illuminated the half-dark neat room with a meager glow of fire, an old woman, the wife of a fisherman, was sitting in a high chair. At the sight of a noble guest, she stood up and bowed affably to him, but then again took her place of honor, without offering it to the stranger, to which the fisherman remarked with a smile:

“Do not ask, young master, that she did not give you the best seat in the house; such is the custom among us poor people, the most convenient place is reserved for the elderly.

“Hey, hubby,” the wife said with a calm smile. - What's got into your head? After all, our guest is not some kind of non-Christ, so does he really want to drive the old man out of his place? Sit down,” she continued, turning to the knight, “there is another chair over there, quite suitable, just look, don’t fidget and don’t move it too much, otherwise one of its legs is not very strong.

The knight cautiously drew up a chair, sank down on it with a smile, and his soul suddenly became so light, as if he had long been at home in this small house and had just returned here from afar.

A friendly conversation ensued between these three glorious people. True, the old man did not really want to talk about the forest, about which the knight strove to ask more, and least of all now, looking at the night; well, the spouses talked about their household and other affairs very willingly and listened with curiosity to the stories of the knight about his wanderings and that he had a castle at the source of the Danube, and that his name was Mr. Huldbrand von Ringstetten 2. During the conversation, the guest more than once something like splashing was heard at the low window, as if someone were splashing water into it. The old man frowned displeasedly at this sound every time; and when, finally, a whole jet hit the glass, and the spray fell through the ill-fitting frame into the upper room, he got up angrily and shouted menacingly towards the window:

- Undine! Will you ever stop being naughty? And besides, today we have a guest in the house.

Outside, everything was silent, then someone's soft chuckle was heard, and the fisherman said, returning to his place:

“You’ll excuse her, honored guest, maybe she’ll throw out some more thing, but this is without malicious intent. This is our adopted daughter Undine; still can’t wean herself from childish manners, although she has entered her eighteenth year. But she has a good heart - I tell you right!

- Yes, it's good to talk to you! ' said the old woman, shaking her head. You will return from fishing or there from the city and her jokes seem cute to you. But when she turns around in front of her nose day and night, but you won’t hear a single good word from her, and there’s no help in the household - at my age! - and besides, you are always afraid that she might ruin us with her stupidities - that's a completely different matter, even a saint will not endure here!

“Okay, okay,” the owner chuckled. - You have Undine, I have a lake. After all, it sometimes tears my nets and breaks through the tops, but still I love him, and you - despite all the trouble - love this sweet little girl. Is not it?

“And it’s true, you can’t really be angry with her,” the old woman answered, nodding her head with a smile.

At that moment the door opened and a fair-haired girl of striking beauty slid into the room with a laugh.

- You just deceived me, father! Where is your guest? she asked, but at the same moment, seeing the beautiful knight, she froze in amazement. Huldbrand admired the charming figure, hastening to imprint in his memory the captivating features, while the girl had not yet recovered from her astonishment and, out of modesty, did not turn away from him. But everything turned out quite differently. She looked at him for a long time, then approached him trustingly, knelt before him and said, playing with the gold medal on the precious chain that hung on his chest:

- Oh, beautiful, friendly guest, how did you find yourself in our poor hut? You must have wandered the wide world for a long time before you came to us?

Have you come from the scary forest, beautiful friend? The old woman did not let him answer - she began to scold the girl and ordered her to immediately get up from her knees and get to work. Undine, without answering her, moved a low bench to Huldbrand's chair, sat down on it with her yarn, and meekly said:

“This is where I will work.

The old man acted the way parents usually behave with spoiled children. He pretended not to notice Ondine's disobedience and tried to talk about something else. But the girl did not let him open his mouth. She said:

“I asked our dear guest where he came from, and have not yet received an answer.

“I really came from the forest, my beauty,” replied Huldbrand, and she went on:

- Well, now tell me how you got there - after all, other people are afraid to go there, and what outlandish thing happened to you there - because it couldn’t help but happen!

Huldbrand shuddered slightly at this memory, and involuntarily glanced out the window - it seemed to him that one of those images that he met in the forest was about to grin from there. But for window glass there was only a dull black night. Having controlled himself, he was just about to begin his story, when the old woman interrupted him with the words:

“This is not the time, lord knight, this is not the time for such stories!” Undine in her hearts jumped up from her bench, rested on her hips beautiful hands and exclaimed, coming close to the fisherman:

"Isn't it time to tell, father?" Not the time? But I want it! Let, let him tell! And she stamped her slender foot on the floor, but all with such coquettish grace that it was even more difficult for Huldbrand to take his eyes off her angry face now than before, when she was meekness itself. However, the old man's long-suppressed irritation finally broke through. He attacked Ondine, reproaching her for disobedience and bad behavior in front of a stranger, his wife echoed him. Then Undine called out:

“If you like to swear and you don’t want to comply with my requests, sleep alone in your old smoky hut!” - And flying headlong out of the house, she disappeared into the darkness of the night in the blink of an eye.

Chapter Two

ABOUT HOW THE UNDINE GOT TO THE FISHERMAN

Huldbrand and the fisherman jumped up and ran after the angry girl. But when they ran outside, Ondine's trail disappeared, and even the rustle of her little feet subsided, so that it was impossible to know in which direction she had run away. Hulbrand looked inquiringly at the owner of the house; he was ready to believe that the charming vision, which had so quickly vanished into the darkness of the night, was nothing more than one of the outlandish images that had just fooled him in the forest; but the old man muttered under his breath:

This isn't the first time this has happened to her! And now you’ll be lost all night without sleep and peace: who knows if something bad will happen to her there, in the dark, because she’s all alone until dawn!

“So let’s go after her, father, for God’s sake!” exclaimed Huldbrand anxiously. The old man replied, “Why? It would be a sin to let you go alone in the dead of night in pursuit of a stupid girl, and my old legs could not catch up with this mischievous girl, even if we knew where she ran! “Then let’s at least call her and ask her to come back,” said Huldbrand, and in an excited voice began to call: “Ondine, oh Ondine! Come back! - The old man, shaking his head, kept repeating that shouting would not help here; Mr. Knight does not yet know how stubborn she is. But about this he himself could not resist, so as not to call from time to time: - Ondine! Undine! I beg you, come back at least for “this time!” But everything was as he predicted. finally, they were forced to return to the hut. Here they saw that the fire in the hearth was almost extinguished, and the hostess, who took the flight of Ondine and the dangers that threatened her much less closely to her heart, had already gone to rest. The old man fanned the smoldering coals, threw in dry firewood and taking down a jug of wine from a shelf in the light of a newly flaring fire, he placed it between himself and the guest.

“You, too, are worried about the stupid girl, sir knight,” he said, “let’s rather spend the night drinking wine and talking than tossing and turning awake on a bed of reeds.” Is not it? - Huldbrand readily agreed, the fisherman seated him in the vacant place of honor of the hostess, and both took up conversation and wine, as befits honest and respectable people.

True, at the slightest rustle outside the window, and sometimes when nothing at all was heard, one of them raised his head with the words: “It's her!” Then they were silent for a moment, and then, making sure that no one was there, they sighed and, shaking their heads, continued the conversation. But since they could not think of anything else but Ondine, the only thing left for the knight was to listen to the story of how Ondine got to the old fisherman, and the old man to tell this story. So he started like this:

- Tom must be about fifteen years old, I once walked through the dense forest to the city with my goods. The wife, as usual, stayed at home, and this time there was a special, joyful reason for that: the Lord sent us - in our already advanced years - a lovely baby. It was a girl, and we all discussed among ourselves whether we should leave our cozy braid for the sake of good and settle somewhere in a more crowded place in order to give a worthy education to this treasure sent down to us by heaven. To tell you the truth, sir knight, with us, poor people, this is not quite the way it seems to you; but my god! Everyone does what is in his power. - Well, so, I walked, and all the way this matter did not get out of my head. Our spit fell in love with me so much and such melancholy took me every time I got into the bustle and noise of the city, that I said to myself: “So you will soon settle in the same lively place or some other, even worse!” For all that, I did not grumble at my Lord, but on the contrary, in my thoughts I warmly thanked him for our child, and from the bottom of my heart and in all truth I will say that nothing bad happened to me either on that or on the way back through the forest. or unusual, and in general I have never seen anything terrible there. The Lord has always been with me among those outlandish shadows.

Then he pulled off the cap from his bald head and fell silent for a while, say a prayer to yourself. Then he covered his head again and continued:

- Here already, on this side of the forest, oh yes, on this side, trouble awaited me. My wife ran out to meet me, tears flowing in streams from her eyes; she was in mourning. – Lord God! I moaned. - Where is our baby? Speak! “The one you just called to,” she replied, and in silence we entered the hut. I searched in vain for the little body; And then I just found out how it all happened. The wife was sitting with the girl on the shore of the lake, playing with her cheerfully and carelessly, when suddenly the little one, sitting in her arms, leaned forward, as if she saw something amazingly beautiful in the water; my wife still hears her laughter, sees how she, our angel, moves her little hands - and in the twinkling of an eye, with a quick movement, slips out of her hands right into the lake. I then searched for a long time for the little drowned woman; but never found; like she died.

And here we are, orphaned parents, that evening in the hut: it is unbearable for us to speak, even if tears did not choke us. We sit and look at the fire in the hearth. Suddenly we hear something rustling outside the door; it opened: on the threshold stood a lovely little girl of three or four years old, in smart clothes, and smiled at us. We are dumbfounded; I didn’t even immediately understand whether it was really a tiny human being, or I just dreamed. But then I noticed that water was streaming from her golden hair and from her rich dress, and I realized that the child had fallen into the water, and he needed help. “Wife,” I say, no one could save us our priceless child; so let us bring at least to others the happiness that fate has deprived us of.

We undressed the little one, put her to bed, gave her a hot drink, but she did not utter a word, but only smiled, never taking her eyes off us, blue as the surface of a lake.

The next morning it became clear that nothing bad had happened to her, and I began to ask who her parents were and where she came from. In response, we heard some strange and confused story. She must have come from somewhere far away, for not only have I not been able to find out anything about her parents in all these fifteen years, but she herself spoke, and even now sometimes says such outlandish things that it’s just right to think did she fall, what good, from the moon. Everyone talks about some kind of golden palaces with a crystal roof and God knows what else. The most intelligible of her stories is how she and her mother went for a walk on the lake, fell from the boat into the water, and came to her senses only here, under the trees, and right there, on the merry shore, she immediately felt at home.

To all this we have added one more serious concern.

The fact that we will leave her with us and raise a foundling instead of our drowned daughter is something we decided right away. But who knows if the girl is baptized? She herself could not say anything about it. She knows that she was created for the glory and joy of the Lord, - so she answered us many times, - and everything that is done for the glory and joy of the Lord, let them do it with him.

My wife and I reasoned as follows: if she is not baptized, then there is nothing to delay with this, but if she is baptized, then you can’t spoil the porridge with oil - in good things it is better to make too much than too little. And so we began to think about what kind of prettier name she would choose, because anyway we did not know what to call her. Finally, they decided that Dorothea would be the best fit for her - I once heard that it means "God's gift"; and after all, she was sent to us as a gift by the Lord to comfort us in grief. But she did not want to hear about it and kept saying that her parents called her Undine; Undine she wants to remain. Well, this name seemed to me somehow pagan, and it is not in the calendar; so I decided to consult with the priest in the city. He, too, had never heard such a name - Ondine. With difficulty I begged him to go with me through the enchanted forest in order to perform the rite of baptism in our hut. The little one stood before us so charming in her elegant dress that the priest's heart melted, she managed to seduce him so much and immediately became so amusingly and sweetly obstinate that all the arguments against Ondine's name flew out of his head at once. In a word, we dubbed her Undine, and throughout the ceremony she behaved well-behaved and obediently, although she was usually playful and restless. That's what the wife is right about: we drank dashingly with her. Would tell you

The knight interrupted the fisherman, drawing his attention to the noise, as if from powerful blows of waves against the shore; it had come through the old man's speech even earlier; now it was heard with increasing force at the very windows of the hut. Both interlocutors jumped out the door and, by the light of the rising moon, saw that the stream flowing from the forest had overflowed its banks, and the water was rushing furiously, dragging stones and tree trunks in a whirlpool. As if awakened by this roar, a storm broke through the thick clouds rushing across the sky; the lake roared under the blows of the whipping wind, the trees on the spit shuddered from the roots to the very tops and bent in exhaustion under the raging full ones.

- Undine! gracious God, Ondine! called the frightened men. But no one responded, and then, without thinking about anything, shouting and calling her, they rushed out of the hut in different directions.

Chapter Three

ABOUT HOW THEY FOUND UNDINE

The longer Huldbrand wandered about in the darkness of the night, without finding anyone, the more confusion and anxiety seized him. The idea that Ondine is just a forest spirit, with new force took possession of it. Already the spit itself, and the hut, and its inhabitants seemed to him now, amid the howling of waves and wind, amidst a completely transformed, even more so peaceful area, a deceptively tantalizing obsession; but from afar, through the roar of the storm, the alarming cries of the fisherman calling Ondine, and the loud prayers and singing of the old woman, were still heard. Finally, coming close to the flooded stream, he saw that he was striving his unbridled run to cut across mysterious forest, and the spit thereby turned into an island. - Good God! he thought. - What if Ondine dared to take at least a step in this terrible forest, perhaps in her estimated obstinacy, precisely because I did not want to tell her about him, and then the stream cut her off, and she was crying alone there, among this evil spirits ! - A cry of horror escaped him, he began to descend to the seething stream, clinging to stones and fallen trees in order to wade or swim across it and rush in search of the missing girl. True, he imagined everything terrible and outlandish that he had seen in the afternoon under these groaning and creaking branches; especially high a white man on the other bank—now he recognized him at once—grinning and nodding his head incessantly. But it was precisely these ominous visions that drove him forward with force, as soon as Undine appeared to him, all alone among them, embraced by mortal horror. He had already grabbed a thick pine bough and, leaning on it, stepped into the middle of the stream, trying to keep on his feet; with firm determination, he took a step deeper, when suddenly a melodious voice was heard next to him: - Do not believe, do not believe him! He is cunning, this old man, this stream! - He recognized the sweet sound of this voice, stopped as if rooted to the spot in the darkness that suddenly hid Moonlight, and his head was spinning from the whirlwind of seething waves that rushed forward, lapping him to the waist. Still, he wasn't about to back down.

- If you do not exist, if you are just a mirage, I do not want to live anymore, I want to become a shadow, like you, dear, dear Ondine! He uttered these words loudly and again stepped into the depths of the stream.

"Look, look, you fool!" - was heard again very close, and looking in that direction, he saw, by the light of the moon suddenly emerging from behind the clouds, under the intertwined branches of trees on a small island in the middle of a seething stream, Ondine, clinging to the grass with a laugh.

Oh, how opportunely he now came to his bitches! In a few jumps, he overcame the distance separating him from the girl, and found himself next to her on a small piece of land, reliably obscured by noisy foliage. ancient trees. Undine rose slightly, threw her arms around his neck, and pulled him to her on the soft grass.

- Here you will tell me everything, my beautiful friend! she whispered. “These old grumblers won’t hear us here!” And this canopy of leaves is surely worth their miserable hut!

- It's the sky itself! Huldbrand replied and embraced her, showering her with passionate kisses.

Meanwhile, the old fisherman went to the bank of the stream and called out to the young people:

- Hey, mister knight, I gave you shelter as is customary between honest people, and here you are secretly having fun with my adopted daughter, and besides, you still make me anxious and look for her among deep night!

“I just found her myself, father,” the knight replied.

“So much the better,” said the fisherman. - Well, now, without delay, bring her here, on solid land.

But Undine didn’t want to hear about it - it’s better for her to go with a beautiful stranger to a dense forest than to return to a hut where she is contradicted in everything and from where a beautiful knight will leave sooner or later anyway. With inexpressible charm she sang, embracing Huldbrand:

Dreaming of space

The wave, leaving the fall,

Rushed off into the blue sea

And will not come back.

At the sound of this song, the old fisherman wept bitterly, but it did not touch her in the least. She continued to kiss and caress her beloved guest, who finally said to her:

- Undine, if the old man's grief does not touch you, then it touched me. Let's go to him!

She opened her huge blue eyes in astonishment and finally said slowly and hesitantly:

- You think? Okay, I agree with everything you want. But let this old man first promise me that he will let you tell about everything that you saw in the forest, and - well, the rest will take care of itself!

- Okay, okay, just come back! the fisherman called out to her, unable to utter another word. And he held out his hands to her across the brook, and nodded his head in assent to her demand; while his white hair fell strangely over his face, and Huldbrand again remembered the white man from the forest nodding his head. But, having driven away this delusion from himself, the knight embraced the girl and carried her across the raging stream that separated the island from the solid land. The old man pressed Ondine to his heart, showered him with kisses, and could not get enough of and rejoice at her; the old woman also appeared and also tried to appease the fugitive with caresses. No one even thought of reproaching her, especially since Ondine, forgetting her anger, showered foster parents gentle words and caresses. Dawn was already breaking over the lake when they finally came to their senses after a joyful meeting; the storm subsided, the birds sang in unison on the damp branches. Since Ondine still insisted on the knight's promised tale, the old men submitted to her wish with a smile. Breakfast was served behind the hut under the trees on the side of the lake, and everyone sat down, joyful and contented; Undine, who did not want to hear about anything else, settled down on the ground at the feet of the knight, and Huldbrand began his story.

Chapter Four

ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE KNIGHT IN THE FOREST

– About eight days ago I arrived in the imperial city, which is located beyond the forest. A tournament and other knightly competitions were just being prepared there. I took part in them, sparing neither horse nor spear. And somehow, when I, having given the helmet to one of my squires, stopped at the barrier to rest a little from these joyful labors, I was struck by beautiful lady in rich decoration; she sat in the gallery and watched the competitions. I asked my neighbor who she was and found out her name was Bertalda and she stepdaughter one of the most powerful dukes of this region. I noticed that she, too, was looking at me, and, as happens with us young knights, if at first I sat firmly in the saddle, now even more so. In the evening I was her cavalier at the dance, and so it went on every day until the end of the festivities.

A sharp pain in his dangling left arm interrupted Huldbrand's speech and drew his gaze to the sore spot. Undine sank her pearly teeth into his finger, and at the same time she looked gloomy and displeased. But then she looked into his eyes with tenderness and sadness and barely audibly whispered: - You did exactly the same! - Then she covered her face with her hands, and the knight, stunned and confused, continued his story.

- This Bertalda turned out to be a haughty and wayward girl. The next day I already liked her much less than on the first, and on the third - even less. But I remained with her, for she was more merciful to me than to all other knights, and it so happened that I jokingly asked her glove.

“I will give it to you,” she said in response, “if you and only you will tell me what this famous forest, about which so many bad rumors roam, really is.

I didn’t really need her glove, but a word is a word, and what kind of a knight, more or less endowed with ambition, will force himself to ask himself twice to go through such a trial.

- You probably fell in love with her? Undine interrupted him. “Looks like it,” replied Huldbrand. “Well, then she must be very stupid,” the girl exclaimed with a laugh. - Drive away from yourself the one you love, and even into such a forest, about which there is bad fame! This forest and all its secrets would not expect anything like this from me!

“So, yesterday morning I set off,” continued the knight, smiling kindly on Ondine. - The trunks of pines turned pink in morning rays who went to bed light stripes on the green grass, and the leaves whispered so merrily that I laughed in my heart at people who fear something terrible from this peaceful place. Soon I will drive through the forest back and forth, I said to myself, smiling contentedly, but before I could even look around, I was already deepening into a thick greenish shadow, and the open clearing behind me disappeared from sight. Just then it occurred to me that in such a huge forest I could easily get lost, and this is, perhaps, the only danger that threatens the traveler here. I stopped and looked at the sun - it was already quite high. Looking up, I saw something black in the branches of a mighty oak. Thinking it was a bear, he grabbed his sword; and then suddenly it says in a human voice, but hoarse and disgusting:

“If I hadn’t broken knots up here, what would you, stupid, be fried on at midnight today?”

- And grinned and rustled the branches; my horse shied away and carried me, so that I did not have time to see what the hell it was.

“Better not remember him,” said the old fisherman and crossed himself; his wife silently followed his example. Undine fixed a clear look on her darling and said: - The best thing in the whole story is that it was not actually fried. Next, beautiful young man! The knight continued his story:

- My frightened horse almost smashed me against the trunks and protruding branches. He was covered in soap from fright and excitement, and I could not siege him. He rushed straight to the rocky cliff; and then it seemed to me as if some long white man rushed in front of the enraged stallion; the frightened horse stopped, I again dealt with him, and only then I saw that my savior was not a white man, but a bright, silvery stream, violently rushing down the hill and blocking the horse's path with its course.

“Thank you, dear brook!” exclaimed Ondine, clapping her hands. The old man just shook his head thoughtfully.

“Before I had time to sit firmly in the saddle and pull on the reins,” continued Huldbrand, “when suddenly, out of nowhere, next to me appeared a strange little man, tiny and ugly, with a yellowish-swarthy face and a huge nose, almost the same size as he himself. His big mouth was stretched out in a stupid grin, he incessantly bowed and shuffled his foot. I felt very uneasy from this clowning around, I nodded briefly in response, turned my still trembling horse and mentally wished myself another adventure, and if this did not turn out to be, to set off on the return journey, for in the meantime the sun had already begun to set. . But then this morel jumped back in the blink of an eye and again found himself in front of my stallion! - Way! I shouted in annoyance. - The horse is hot and, just look, it will knock you off your feet! Uh, no, - the short man snorted and laughed even more stupidly than before. "Where's the reward money?" It was I who stopped your horse; otherwise - you should lie with your horse there, at the bottom of the ravine, oh-oh oh! - Stop making faces! I shouted, “Here, take your money, even though all this is a lie, because it was not you, an insignificant creature, who saved me, but that good stream over there!” And he threw the golden one at his outlandish cap, which he, in the manner of a beggar, held out to me. I drove away; but he continued to shout after me, and suddenly, with inconceivable speed, he was again beside me. I set off the horse at a gallop, he galloped beside me, although, apparently, he had a hard time, and at the same time he writhed and writhed with his whole body, so that looking at it was both funny, and disgusting, and surprising, and all the time he was twirling a coin over his head , squealing with every jump: - Counterfeit money! Fake coin! Fake coin! Counterfeit money! - And he squeezed it out of his throat with such a wheeze, as if after each exclamation he would collapse dead to the ground. And from the open mouth he hung a vile red tongue. In confusion, I reined in the horse and asked: - What are you shouting? What do you need? take another gold one, take two more, just leave me alone! - Here he again began to weigh out his sickeningly obsequious bows and snorted: - No, not gold, my sir, not gold at all! I have plenty of this goodness myself, now I'll show you! - And then suddenly it seemed to me that I see through the green turf as through green glass, and flat earth became round like a ball, and inside it swarming, playing with silver and gold, small kobolds (3). They tumbled over their heads, threw ingots at each other precious metals, sprinkled gold dust in the face, and my ugly companion stood with one foot inside, the other outside. They gave him piles of gold, he laughingly showed it to me, and then with a clang he threw it back into the abyss. Then I showed the kobolds my golden one again, and they laughed and hooted until they dropped. And then they reached out to me with their metal-blackened fingers, and - faster and faster, tighter and tighter, all furious and furious, this devil whirled and floundered around - then I, like my horse before, was seized with horror, I spurred my horse and , not dismantling the road, again rushed into the depths of the forest.