on her neck, but still they flattered her, saying that the little
spots only made her skin look the whiter.

But Bertalda did not believe their words. She wanted to get rid of the
freckles that had only lately appeared on her slender throat.

'Had I but water from the fountain, the spots would vanish in a day,'
she cried pettishly.

Then one of Bertalda's maids thought to herself, 'My mistress shall
have the water she so much desires,' and laughing gaily to herself,
she slipped from the room.

In but a few moments heavy footsteps were heard in the court below.
The footsteps tramped backward and forward.

Bertalda, looking from her window, smiled, for she saw that the noisy
steps were those of workmen, who were busy removing the stone which
had been placed over the fountain. She guessed that this was the doing
of one of her maids, but she still smiled contentedly. The freckles
would not spoil her beauty for another day. The water from the
fountain would make them disappear, and that was all she cared about
just then.

At first the workmen tried in vain to remove the stone. Perhaps some
of them, remembering that their sweet young mistress Undine had
ordered it to be placed there, did not try very hard to lift it from
its place. All at once, however, the stone began to move. It almost
seemed as though it were being pushed up from beneath. It moved
slowly, then seemed to rise up into the air, after which it rolled on