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
doubled. But again, she disappeared, to rise again somewhere else.
Five times he was thus tantalized and disappointed. She rose up, and
quickly disappeared.
It seemed as though she meant only to tease him. So he rode home
sorrowing, and scarcely slept that night.
Early morning, found the lovelorn youth again at the lake side, but
for hours he watched in vain.
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