“But mayhap it does concern you, though,” said the guide; “for I am Kuhleborn.”

Thus speaking he thrust his head into the waggon, and laughed with a distorted visage.  But the waggon remained a waggon no longer; the grey horses were horses no longer; all was transformed to foam—­all sank into the waters that rushed and hissed around them; while the waggoner himself, rising in the form of a gigantic wave, dragged the vainly-struggling courser under the waters, then rose again huge as a liquid tower, swept over the heads of the floating pair, and was on the point of burying them irrecoverably beneath it.  Then the soft voice of Undine was heard through the uproar; the moon emerged from the clouds; and by its light Undine was seen on the heights above the valley.  She rebuked, she threatened the floods below her.  The menacing and tower-like billow vanished, muttering and murmuring; the waters gently flowed away under the beams of the moon; while Undine, like a hovering white dove, flew down from the hill, raised the knight and Bertalda, and bore them to a green spot, where, by her earnest efforts, she soon restored them and dispelled their terrors.  She then assisted Bertalda to mount the white palfrey on which she had herself been borne to the valley; and thus all three returned homeward to Castle Ringstetten.

CHAPTER 8

After this last adventure they lived at the castle undisturbed and in peaceful enjoyment.  The knight was more and more impressed with the heavenly goodness of his wife, which she had so nobly shown by her instant pursuit and by the rescue she had effected in the Black Valley, where the power of Kuhleborn again commenced.  Undine herself enjoyed that peace and security which never fails the soul as long as it knows distinctly that it is on the right path; and besides, in the newly-awakened love and regard of her husband, a thousand gleams of hope and joy shone upon her.

Bertalda, on the other hand, showed herself grateful, humble, and timid, without taking to herself any merit for so doing.  Whenever Huldbrand or Undine began to explain to her their reasons for covering the fountain, or their adventures in the Black Valley, she would earnestly entreat them to spare her the recital, for the recollection of the fountain occasioned her too much shame, and that of the Black Valley too much terror.  She learnt nothing more about either of them; and what would she have gained from more knowledge?  Peace and joy had visibly taken up their abode at Castle Ringstetten.  They enjoyed their present blessings in perfect security, and now imagined that life could produce nothing but pleasant flowers and fruits.