of Bertalda," said he to
himself. "He imagines that I shall be terrified at his senseless tricks,
and resign the poor distressed maiden to his power, so that he can wreak
his vengeance upon her at will. But that he shall not, weak spirit of
the flood! What the heart of man can do, when it exerts the full force
of its will and of its noblest powers, the poor goblin cannot fathom."

He felt the truth of his words, and that they had inspired his heart
with fresh courage. Fortune, too, appeared to favour him; for, before
reaching his fastened steed, he distinctly heard the voice of Bertalda,
weeping not far before him, amid the roar of the thunder and the
tempest, which every moment increased. He flew swiftly towards the
sound, and found the trembling maiden, just as she was attempting to
climb the steep, hoping to escape from the dreadful darkness of this
valley. He drew near her with expressions of love; and bold and proud as
her resolution had so lately been, she now felt nothing but joy that the
man whom she so passionately loved should rescue her from this frightful
solitude, and thus call her back to the joyful life in the castle. She
followed almost unresisting, but so spent with fatigue, that the knight
was glad to bring her to his horse, which he now hastily unfastened from
the elm, in order to lift the fair wanderer upon him, and then to lead
him carefully by the reins through the uncertain shades of the valley.

But, owing to the wild apparition of Kuhleborn, the horse had become
wholly unmanageable. Rearing and wildly snorting as he was, the knight
must have used uncommon effort to mount the beast himself; to place
the trembling Bertalda upon him was impossible. They were compelled,
therefore, to return home on foot. While with one hand the knight drew
the steed after him by the bridle, he supported the tottering Bertalda
with the other. She exerted all the strengths in her power in order to
escape speedily from this vale of terrors. But weariness weighed her
down like lead; and all her limbs trembled, partly in consequence
of what she had suffered from the extreme terror which Kuhleborn had
already caused her, and partly from her present fear at the roar of the
tempest and thunder amid the mountain forest.

At last she slid from the arm of the knight; and sinking upon the moss,
she said: "Only let me lie here, my noble lord. I suffer the punishment
due to my folly; and I must perish here through faintness and