“And so, venerable sir, many as have been the years I have dwelt here in this forest, I have never received the name of hermit in your sense of the word.  For, as I said before, I know nothing of penance, and I think, too, that I have no particular need of it.  Do you ask me why I am so attached to the forest?  It is because its scenery is so peculiarly picturesque, and affords me so much pastime when, in my floating white garments, I pass through its world of leaves and dusky shadows;—­and when a sweet sunbeam glances down upon me at times unexpectedly.”

“You are a very singular man,” replied the priest, “and I should like to have a more intimate acquaintance with you.”

“And who, then, may you be yourself, to pass from one thing to another?” inquired the stranger.

“I am called Father Heilmann,” answered the holy man; “and I am from the cloister of Our Lady of the Salutation, beyond the lake.”

“Well, well,” replied the stranger, “my name is Kuhleborn; and were I a stickler for the nice distinctions of rank, I might, with equal propriety, require you to give me the title of noble lord of Kuhleborn, or free lord of Kuhleborn; for I am as free as the birds in the forest, and, it may be, a trifle more so.  For example, I now have something to tell that young lady there.”  And before they were aware of his purpose, he was on the other side of the priest, close to Undine, and stretching himself high into the air, in order to whisper something in her ear.  But she shrank from him in terror, and exclaimed: 

“I have nothing more to do with you.”

“Ho, ho,” cried the stranger with a laugh, “you have made a grand marriage indeed, since you no longer know your own relations!  Have you no recollection, then, of your uncle Kuhleborn, who so faithfully bore you on his back to this region?”

“However that may be,” replied Undine, “I entreat you never to appear in my presence again.  I am now afraid of you; and will not my husband fear and forsake me, if he sees me associate with such strange company and kindred?”

“You must not forget, my little niece,” said Kuhleborn, “that I am with you here as a guide; otherwise those madcap spirits of the earth, the gnomes that haunt this forest, would play you some of their mischievous pranks.  Let me therefore still accompany you in peace.  Even the old priest there had a better recollection of me than you have; for he just now assured me that I seemed to be very familiar to him, and that I must have been with him in the ferry-boat, out of which he tumbled into the waves.  He certainly did see me there; for I was no other than the water-spout that tore him out of it, and kept him from sinking, while I safely wafted him ashore to your wedding.”

Undine and the knight turned their eyes upon Father Heilmann; but he appeared to be moving forward, just as if he were dreaming or walking in his sleep, and no longer to be conscious of a word that was spoken.  Undine then said to Kuhleborn:  “I already see yonder the end of the forest.  We have no further need of your assistance, and nothing now gives us alarm but yourself.  I therefore beseech you, by our mutual love and good-will, to vanish, and allow us to proceed in peace.”