The Ring, pp. 203-211 Summary

Many years in the past, the newly married couple, Sigismund and his wife Lise are out on a walk. Sigismund has studied sheep raising and they are going to meet Mathias, the master of the sheep farm. Mathias tells Sigismund about two sick lambs, and then about a thief who is at large and who has killed a man. The man is said to have broken his arm while fighting off pursuers. Lise becomes bored and her husband lets her walk slowly home, saying he will meet her later.

Lise enjoys being alone and thinks of a secret grove that she had found a few days before in the woods along the way home. She slips into the grove to hide from her husband, and is suddenly face to face with a man. The man is dirty...