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 he heard a rushing in the darkness of the wood, that
resembled the tramping of a mounted steed, and the noise continued every
instant drawing nearer and nearer to his little territory.
What he had
fancied, when abroad in many a stormy night, respecting the mysteries of the
forest, now flashed through his mind in a moment, especially the figure of a
man of gigantic stature and snow-white appearance, who kept nodding his head in
a portentous manner. And when he raised his eyes towards the wood, the form
came before him in perfect distinctness, as he saw the nodding man burst forth
from the mazy web-work of leaves and branches. But he immediately felt
emboldened, when he reflected that nothing to give him alarm had ever befallen
him even in the forest; and moreover, that on this open neck of land the evil
spirit, it was likely, would be still less daring in the exercise of his power.
At the same time he prayed aloud with the most earnest sincerity of devotion,
repeating a passage of the Bible. This inspired him with fresh courage, and
soon perceiving the illusion, and the strange mistake into which his
imagination had betrayed him, he could with difficulty refrain from laughing.
The white nodding figure he had seen became transformed, in the twinkling of an
eye, to what in reality it was, a small brook, long and familiarly known to him,
which ran foaming from the forest, and discharged itself into the lake.
But what had
caused the startling sound was a knight arrayed in sumptuous apparel, who from
under the shadows of the trees came riding toward the cottage. His doublet was violet embroidered with
gold, and his scarlet cloak hung gracefully over it; on his cap of burnished
gold waved red and violet-coloured plumes; and in his golden shoulder-belt
flashed a sword, richly ornamented, and extremely beautiful. The white barb that bore the knight was more
slenderly built than war-horses usually are, and he touched the turf with a
step so light and elastic that the green and flowery carpet seemed hardly to
receive the slightest injury from his tread. The old fisherman,
notwithstanding, did not feel perfectly secure in his mind, although he was
forced to believe that no evil could be feared from an appearance so pleasing,
and therefore, as good manners dictated, he took off his hat on the knight's
coming near, and quietly remained by the side of his nets.
When the
stranger stopped, and asked whether he, with his horse, could have shelter and
entertainment there for the night, the fisherman returned answer: "As to
your horse, fair sir, I have no better stable for him than this shady meadow,
and no better provender than the grass that is growing here. But with respect
to yourself, you shall be welcome to our humble cottage, and to the best supper
and lodging we are able to give you."
The knight was
well contented with this reception; and alighting from his horse, which his
host assisted him to relieve from saddle and bridle, he let him hasten away to
the fresh pasture, and thus spoke: "Even had I found you less hospitable
and kindly disposed, my worthy old friend, you would still, I suspect, hardly have
got rid of me to-day; for here, I perceive, a broad lake lies before us, and as
to riding back into that wood of wonders, with the shades of evening deepening
around me, may Heaven in its grace preserve me from the thought."
"Pray, not
a word of the wood, or of returning into it!" said the fisherman, and took
his guest into the cottage… (Undine, de Friedrich
de la Motte Fouque)
Vocabulario
Doublet: chaqueta con o sin mangas usadas entre los
siglos 15 y 17 en Europa por los hombres
Barb: caballo
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