At last I ventured to return to my post, but the window remained closed.  I hid in the bushes for four, five, six mornings, but she did not appear.  Then I grew tired of my hiding-place and came out boldly, and every morning promenaded bravely beneath all the windows of the castle.  But the lovely Lady fair was not to be seen.  At a window a little farther on I saw the other lady standing; I had never before seen her so distinctly.  She had a fine rosy face, and was plump, and as gorgeously attired as a tulip.  I always made her a low bow, and she acknowledged it, and her eyes twinkled very kindly and courteously.  Once only, I thought I saw the Lady fair standing behind the curtain at her window, peeping out.

Many days passed and I did not see her, either in the garden or at the window.  The gardener scolded me for laziness; I was out of humor, tired of myself and of all about me.

I was lying on the grass one Sunday afternoon, watching the blue wreaths of smoke from my pipe, and fretting because I had not chosen some other trade which would not have bored me so day after day.  The other fellows had all gone off to the dance in the neighboring village.  Every one was strolling about in Sunday attire, the houses were gay, and there was melody in the very air.  But I walked off and sat solitary, like a bittern among the reeds, by a lonely pond in the garden, rocking myself in a little skiff tied there, while the vesper bells sounded faintly from the town and the swans glided to and fro on the placid water.  A sadness as of death possessed me.

On a sudden I heard, in the distance, voices talking gaily, and bursts of merry laughter.  They sounded nearer and nearer, and red and white kerchiefs and hats and feathers were visible through the shrubbery.  A party of gentlemen and ladies were coming from the castle, across the meadow, directly toward me, and my two ladies among them.  I stood up and was about to retire, when the elder perceived me.  “Aha, you are just what we want!” she called to me, smiling.  “Row us across the pond to the other side.”  The ladies cautiously took their seats in the boat, assisted by the gentlemen, who made quite a parade of their familiarity with the water.  When all the ladies were seated, I pushed off from the shore.  One of the young gentlemen who stood in the prow began, unperceived, to rock the boat.  The ladies looked frightened, and one or two screamed.  The Lady fair, who had a lily in her hand, and was sitting well in the centre of the skiff, looked down with a quiet smile into the clear water, touching the surface of the pond now and then with a lily, her image, amid the reflections of the clouds and trees, appearing like an angel soaring gently through the deep blue skies.