Now there was once a pretty nymph, who lived in the Red Lake, to which
a young and handsome farmer used to come to catch fish. One misty day,
when the lad could see only a few feet before him, a wind cleared the
air and blew away the fog. Then he saw near him a little old man,
standing on a ladder. He was hard at work in putting a thatched roof
on a hut which he had built.

A few minutes later, as the mist rose and the breezes blew, the farmer
could see no house, but only the ripplings of water on the lake's
surface.

Although he went fishing often, he never again saw anything unusual,
during the whole summer.

On one hot day in the early autumn, while he stopped to let his horse
drink, he looked and saw a very lovely face on the water. Wondering to
whom it might belong, there rose up before him the head and shoulders
of a most beautiful woman. She was so pretty that he had two tumbles.
He fell off his horse and he fell in love with her at one and the same
time.

Rushing toward the lovely vision, he put out his arms at that spot
where he had seen her, but only to embrace empty air. Then he
remembered that love is blind. So he rubbed his eyes, to see if he
could discern anything. Yet though he peered down into the water, and
up over the hills, he could not see her anywhere.

But he soon found out to his joy that his eyes were all right, for in
another place, the face, flower-crowned hair, and her reflection in
the water came again. Then his desire to possess the damsel was