d flew before him,
from bough to bough, to show him the way, till at last they came to a
quiet meadow, enclosed all round, through which a streamlet, taking its
source from a cleft in the rocks, was flowing among some pretty bowers
formed by beech-trees. These trees had struck their branches into the
earth, and thus arched over the ground like a roof, through which the
fine leaves of the fern were peering forth, forming as it were the
gables and loopholes of the little leafy dwelling. Upon these the
magpie sprang, peeped through a loophole, and whispered mysteriously,
'Here sleeps the princess!" The student approached with beating heart,
knelt before the opening of the bower and looked within. Ah, there was
a sight that set his whole soul and senses into a commotion more
violent than when he uttered the magical word! On the moss, which rose
like a pillow round its fair burden, the loveliest maiden was lying
asleep. Her head was somewhat raised, one arm was placed under it, and
her white fingers glistened through the gold-brown hair, which in long
soft streams delicately wound about her neck and bosom. With
unspeakable delight and, at the same time, with a feeling of melancholy
the student gazed upon the noble face, the purple lips, the full white
limbs, which cast a bright reflection on the dark moss. The
circumstance that the sleeper, as if oppressed by some mysterious
weight, appeared to breathe in a soft agony, only rendered her more
charming in his eyes; he felt that his heart was captivated for ever,
and that those lips alone could still his passion. 'Is it not a
shame,' said the magpie, as she hopped through the hole into the bower
and perched on the sleeper's arm, 'that so lovely a princess should
thus be bound by a web?' 'A web?' asked the student; 'she is indeed
lying there wrapped in her white veil.' 'Oh, folly!' cried the magpie,
'I tell you that is all cobweb, and King Spider made it.' 'But who is
King Spider?'

"'In his human state he was a wealthy maker of yarn,' replied the
magpie, pleasantly wagging her tail. 'His factory was not distant from
here, being by the river-side without the wood, and about a hundred
workmen spun under him. The yarn they used to wash in the stream.
This was the dwelling-place of the Nixy, who was very much enraged,
that they troubled his clear waters with their filthy washing,
especially as all his children, the trout and the smelts, died from the
carious matter: h