shadows;--and when a sweet sunbeam glances down upon me at times
unexpectedly."

"You are a very singular man," replied the priest, "and I should like
to have a more intimate acquaintance with you."

"And who, then, may you be yourself, to pass from one thing to
another?" inquired the stranger.

"I am called Father Heilmann," answered the holy man; "and I am from
the cloister of Our Lady of the Salutation, beyond the lake."

"Well, well," replied the stranger, "my name is Kuhleborn; and were I
a stickler for the nice distinctions of rank, I might, with equal
propriety, require you to give me the title of noble lord of
Kuhleborn, or free lord of Kuhleborn; for I am as free as the birds
in the forest, and, it may be, a trifle more so. For example, I now
have something to tell that young lady there." And before they were
aware of his purpose, he was on the other side of the priest, close
to Undine, and stretching himself high into the air, in order to
whisper something in her ear. But she shrank from him in terror, and
exclaimed:

"I have nothing more to do with you."

"Ho, ho," cried the stranger with a laugh, "you have made a grand
marriage indeed, since you no longer know your own relations! Have
you no recollection, then, of your uncle Kuhleborn, who so faithfully
bore you on his back to this region?"