#hulbrand

In this scene, taken from the German novel Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué (1777-1843), the young knight Huldbrand escorts his bride, Undine, through an enchanted forest full of writhing elves and goblins. By her marriage to a human the water spirit Undine gained a mortal soul but lost the prospect of eternal life. Father Heilmann, having just performed the ceremony, emerges from beneath a canopy of trees, while the evil and sinister Kühleborn, spirit of the waters and Undine's uncle, rises up ahead of them in an attempt to return Undine to her family.