He would tell afar of her beauty, and such wonderful beings have been given the name of Undines.

You, however, are now actually beholding an Undine." The knight tried to persuade himself that his beautiful wife was under the spell of one of her strange humors, and that she was taking pleasure in teasing him with one of her extravagant inventions.

But repeatedly as he said this to himself, he could not believe it for a moment; a strange shudder passed through him; unable to utter a word, he stared at the beautiful narrator with an immovable gaze.

Undine shook her head sorrowfully, drew a deep sigh, and then proceeded as follows:-- "Our condition would be far superior to that of other human beings--for human beings we call ourselves, being similar to them in form and culture--but there is one evil peculiar to us.

We and our like in the other elements, vanish into dust and pass away, body and spirit, so that not a vestige of us remains behind; and when you mortals hereafter awake to a purer life, we remain with the sand and the sparks and the wind and the waves.