in your cottage, and ventured hither, where I cannot sufficiently
thank my Heavenly Father that, after preserving me from the waters,
He has also conducted me to such pious people as you are; and the
more so, as it is difficult to say whether I shall ever behold any
other persons in this world except you four."

"What mean you by those words?" asked the fisherman.

"Can you tell me, then, how long this commotion of the elements will
last?" replied the priest. "I am old; the stream of my life may
easily sink into the ground and vanish before the overflowing of that
forest stream shall subside. And, indeed, it is not impossible that
more and more of the foaming waters may rush in between you and
yonder forest, until you are so far removed from the rest of the
world, that your small fishing-canoe may be incapable of passing
over, and the inhabitants of the continent entirely forget you in
your old age amid the dissipation and diversions of life."

At this melancholy foreboding the old lady shrank back with a feeling
of alarm, crossed herself, and cried, "God forbid!"

But the fisherman looked upon her with a smile and said, "What a
strange being is man! Suppose the worst to happen; our state would
not be different; at any rate, your own would not, dear wife, from
what it is at present. For have you, these many years, been farther
from home than the border of the forest? And have you seen a single
human being beside Undine and myself? It is now only a short time
since the coming of the knight and the priest. They will remain with
us, even if we do become a forgotten island; so after all you will be
a gainer."