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    Undine
    Undine
    Undine
    Ebook85 pages1 hour

    Undine

    By Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué

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    Short children's version of the classic fantasy novel.According to About This Book: "Undine is the name of the water maiden whose story you will read as you turn the leaves of this little book.Undine is beautiful as the dawn stealing across the waters, beautiful as the spray of the crystal waves. Yet when she comes to earth she comes to seek for that without which her beauty will be for ever cold, cold and chill as the surge of the salt, salt sea. Look deep into her blue eyes and you will see why her beauty is so cold, so chill. In the eyes of every mortal you may see a soul. In the gay blue eyes of Undine, look you long and never so deep, no soul will look forth to meet your gaze. Love, joy, sorrow, these are the pearls that shine in the eyes of every mortal. But in the eyes of the water maiden there is no gleam of love, no sparkle of joy, no tear of sorrow. Undine has come to earth to seek for a soul. Without one she may never know the golden gifts God has given to each mortal, gifts these of love, joy, sorrow. You will read in this little book how Undine, the water maiden, won for herself a human soul."

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSeltzer Books
    Release dateMar 1, 2018
    ISBN9781455317196
    Author

    Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué

    Friedrich de la Motte-Fouqué was a German writer of the Romantic style. He was born at Brandenburg an der Havel, of a family of French Huguenot origin. Although not originally intended for a military career, Fouqué ultimately gave up his university studies at Halle to join the army, and he took part in the Rhine campaign of 1794. The rest of his life was devoted mainly to literary pursuits. Fouqué’s first marriage was unhappy and soon ended in divorce. His second wife, Caroline Philippine von Briest, enjoyed some reputation as a novelist in her day. After her death, Fouqué married a third time. He died in 1843, at age sixty-five, in Berlin.  

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      Book preview

      Undine - Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué

      UNDINE BY FRIEDRICH DE LA MOTTE FOUQUE

      TOLD TO THE CHILDREN BY MARY MACGREGOR

      Published by Seltzer Books

      established in 1974, now offering over 14,000 books

      feedback welcome: seltzer@seltzerbooks.com  

      German classics in English translation available from Seltzer Books:

      Poetry and Drama by Goethe

      Elective Affinities, Essays and Letters by Goethe

      Works of Schiller

      German Romantics

      Later German Romantics

      Heine, Grillparzer, Beethoven

      Moerike, Hegel, Gutzkow, ad Other German Authors

      The German Novel of Provincial Life

      Works of Hebbel and Ludwig

      Works of Bismarck, Moltke, and Lassalle

      Works of Spielhagen, Storm, and Raabe

      Works of Freytag and Fontane

      Henry of Ofterdingen by Novalis

      Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouque

      Undine Retold for Children

      Wilhelm Hauff, 4 books

      Sigmund Freud, 7 books

      Immanuel Kant, 4 books

      Frederick Engels, 5 books on economics and socialism

      Karl Marx, 4 books

      Nietzsche, 8 books

      The Art of Literature by Schopenhauer

      LONDON: T. C. & E. C. JACK

      NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.

      TOLD TO THE CHILDREN SERIES

      EDITED BY LOUEY CHISHOLM

      TO MARGARET

      ABOUT THIS BOOK

      I.     The Fisherman and the Knight

      II.    Undine is Lost

      III.   Undine is Found

      IV.    The Knight's Story

      V.     The Knight stays at the Cottage

      VI.    The Wedding

      VII.   Undine's Story

      VIII.  Huldbrand and Undine leave the Cottage

      IX.    The Knight returns to the City

      X.     The Birthday Feast

      XI.    The Journey to Castle Ringstetten

      XII.   Castle Ringstetten

      XIII.  The Black Valley

      XIV.   Huldbrand forgets his Promise

      XV.    Huldbrand and Bertalda

      XVI.   Bertalda's Wedding

      XVII.  The Burial

      ABOUT THIS BOOK

      Undine is the name of the water maiden whose story you will read as you turn the leaves of this little book.  Undine is beautiful as the dawn stealing across the waters, beautiful as the spray of the crystal waves.

      Yet when she comes to earth she comes to seek for that without which her beauty will be for ever cold, cold and chill as the surge of the salt, salt sea.

      Look deep into her blue eyes and you will see why her beauty is so cold, so chill.

      In the eyes of every mortal you may see a soul. In the gay blue eyes of Undine, look you long and never so deep, no soul will look forth to meet your gaze.

      Love, joy, sorrow, these are the pearls that shine in the eyes of every mortal. But in the eyes of the water maiden there is no gleam of love, no sparkle of joy, no tear of sorrow.

      Undine has come to earth to seek for a soul. Without one she may never know the golden gifts God has given to each mortal, gifts these of love, joy, sorrow.

      You will read in this little book how Undine, the water maiden, won for herself a human soul.

      MARY MACGREGOR.

      CHAPTER I THE FISHERMAN AND THE KNIGHT

      A fisherman brought a stool to the doorway of his home and, sitting down, he began to mend his nets.

      His cottage stood in the midst of green meadows, and his eyes grew glad as he looked at the green grass. After the heat of the fair summer's day it was so cool, so refreshing.

      At the foot of the meadows lay a large lake of clear blue water. The fisherman knew it well. It was there his work was done, through sunshine or through storm.

      To-day, as his gaze wandered from the green meadows to the blue lake, he thought he saw the waters stretch out soft arms, until slowly they drew the fair meadows, the little cottage into a loving embrace.

      The fisherman, his wife and their foster-child lived very quietly on this pleasant spot. It was but seldom that any one passed their door, for between the beautiful meadows and the nearest town lay a wood. So wild and gloomy was the wood, so tangled its pathway, that no one cared to enter it.

      Moreover, it was said that there were strange beings lurking amid the gloom--ugly goblins, misshapen gnomes; and there were shadowy spirits too, which flitted through the branches of the strongest trees, and these even the bravest would not wish to see.

      Through this dark and haunted wood the old fisherman had often to journey.

      It was true that he entered the dreaded shades with fear, yet no spectre ever crossed his path. But perhaps that was because the thoughts of the old man were pure, or perhaps because he never entered the forest without singing a hymn in a clear brave voice.

      As the fisherman sat mending his nets on this fair summer eve he began to move restlessly, to glance around uneasily.

      Then a sudden terror fell upon him as he heard a noise in the forest behind.

      Ah, how the trees rustled and how the grass was being trampled underfoot! Could it be a horseman who made haste to escape from some terrible foe?

      And now, although he was wide awake, the fisherman seemed to see a figure, which he had seen before only in his dreams.

      He saw the figure of a tall, strong, snow-white man, who came with slow steps toward him, and at each step he took, the figure nodded his great white head.

      The fisherman rubbed his eyes as he glanced toward the wood. At the same moment the wind seemed to blow the leaves aside to make room for the snow-white man, whose head never ceased to nod.

      'Well,' said the fisherman to himself, 'I have ever passed through the forest unharmed, why should I fear that evil will befall me here?' and he began to repeat aloud a verse of the Bible.

      At the sound of his own voice courage crept back into the heart of the fisherman, moreover the words of the Holy Book rebuked his fears. Nor was it long before he was able even to laugh and to see how foolish he had been.

      For listen! The white nodding man was after all only a stream which the fisherman knew very well, a stream which ran and bubbled out of the forest and fell into the lake. As for the rustling noise, the fisherman saw what had caused that, as a gaily clad knight rode forth from the forest shadows toward the little cottage.

      This was no spectre or spirit of the wood, this stranger who wore the garments of a knight of high degree. He rode a white horse, which stepped softly, so that the flowers in the meadows lifted their delicate heads uninjured by his tread.

      The fisherman raised his cap

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