which shone silver in the sunlight.'

'Dear brook, I will be grateful to you for evermore,' cried Undine,
clapping her hands as she spoke, in childish glee. But the fisherman
shook his head and was silent.

'And now,' said the knight, 'I was anxious to hasten as quickly as
possible through the forest, for it seemed to me that not only might I
find it difficult to regain the pathway I had lost, but that strange
beings might again startle both me and my noble steed.

'I turned my horse away from the dark chasm which lay before us, but
even as I did so I found at my side a strange little man. He was
uglier than any one I had ever seen. His nose was wellnigh as large as
all the rest of his body, and his mouth was so big that it stretched
from one ear to the other.

'This ugly creature, as soon as he saw that I had noticed him, grinned
at me, until his mouth looked even larger than before. He scraped his
feet along the ground and bowed mockingly to me a thousand times.

'My horse was trembling at the sight of the strange figure, so I
resolved to ride on in search of further adventure, or if I found
none, to ride back to the city which I had left in the morning.

'But the ugly little man did not mean to let me escape. Quick as
lightning he sprang round and stood again in front of my horse.

'"Get out of the way," I now cried in anger, "lest my steed tramples
you under its feet."