Undine | Page 5

it was
founded on the universal idea in folk-lore of the nixies or water-spirits,
one of whom, in Norwegian legend, was seen weeping bitterly because
of the want of a soul. Sometimes the nymph is a wicked siren like the
Lorelei; but in many of these tales she weds an earthly lover, and
deserts him after a time, sometimes on finding her diving cap, or her

seal-skin garment, which restores her to her ocean kindred, sometimes
on his intruding on her while she is under a periodical transformation,
as with the fairy Melusine, more rarely if he becomes unfaithful.
There is a remarkable Cornish tale of a nymph or mermaiden, who thus
vanished, leaving a daughter who loved to linger on the beach rather
than sport with other children. By and by she had a lover, but no sooner
did he show tokens of inconstancy, than the mother came up from the
sea and put him to death, when the daughter pined away and died. Her
name was Selina, which gives the tale a modern aspect, and makes us
wonder if the old tradition can have been modified by some report of
Undine's story.
There was an idea set forth by the Rosicrucians of spirits abiding in the
elements, and as Undine represented the water influences, Fouque's
wife, the Baroness Caroline, wrote a fairly pretty story on the sylphs of
fire. But Undine's freakish playfulness and mischief as an elemental
being, and her sweet patience when her soul is won, are quite original,
and indeed we cannot help sharing, or at least understanding,
Huldbrand's beginning to shrink from the unearthly creature to
something of his own flesh and blood. He is altogether unworthy, and
though in this tale there is far less of spiritual meaning than in Sintram,
we cannot but see that Fouque's thought was that the grosser human
nature is unable to appreciate what is absolutely pure and unearthly.
C. M. YONGE.

UNDINE
by Friedrich de la Motte Fouque

TO UNDINE
Undine! thou fair and lovely sprite, Since first from out an ancient lay I
saw gleam forth thy fitful light, How hast thou sung my cares away!

How hast thou nestled next my heart, And gently offered to impart Thy
sorrows to my listening ear, Like a half-shy, half-trusting child, The
while my lute, in wood-notes wild, Thine accents echoed far and near!
Then many a youth I won to muse With love on thy mysterious ways,
With many a fair one to peruse The legend of thy wondrous days.
And now both dame and youth would fain List to my tale yet once
again; Nay, sweet Undine, be not afraid! Enter their halls with footsteps
light, Greet courteously each noble knight, But fondly every German
maid.
And should they ask concerning me, Oh, say, "He is a cavalier, Who
truly serves and valiantly, In tourney and festivity, With lute and sword,
each lady fair!"

CHAPTER 1

On a beautiful evening, many hundred years ago, a worthy old
fisherman sat mending his nets. The spot where he dwelt was
exceedingly picturesque. The green turf on which he had built his
cottage ran far out into a great lake; and this slip of verdure appeared to
stretch into it as much through love of its clear waters as the lake,
moved by a like impulse, strove to fold the meadow, with its waving
grass and flowers, and the cooling shade of the trees, in its embrace of
love. They seemed to be drawn toward each other, and the one to be
visiting the other as a guest.
With respect to human beings, indeed, in this pleasant spot, excepting
the fisherman and his family, there were few, or rather none, to be met
with. For as in the background of the scene, toward the west and
north-west, lay a forest of extraordinary wildness, which, owing to its
sunless gloom and almost impassable recesses, as well as to fear of the
strange creatures and visionary illusions to be encountered in it, most

people avoided entering, unless in cases of extreme necessity. The
pious old fisherman, however, many times passed through it without
harm, when he carried the fine fish which he caught by his beautiful
strip of land to a great city lying only a short distance beyond the
forest.
Now the reason he was able to go through this wood with so much ease
may have been chiefly this, because he entertained scarcely any
thoughts but such as were of a religious nature; and besides, every time
he crossed the evil-reported shades, he used to sing some holy song
with a clear voice and from a sincere heart.
Well, while he sat by his nets this evening, neither fearing nor devising
evil, a sudden terror seized him, as