The Naiad: A ghost story

by George Sand

Suddenly I ceased to reason or reflect. It seemed to me that I saw the statue move.

I thought that a cloud was passing over the moon and had produced the illusion; but there was none. Only, it was not the statue that moved, it was a form that arose from behind or beside her, and which seemed exactly like her, as if an animate reflection had detached itself from this body of marble and had quitted it to approach me. For a moment I doubted the evidence of my senses, but it became so distinct, so positive, that I was soon convinced that I beheld a real being, and that I experienced no feeling of terror, nor even any very great surprise.

The living image of the naiad descended the irregular steps of the monument with a flying motion; her movements were easy and ideally graceful. She was not much taller than a real woman, although the elegance of her proportions imparted a stamp of exceptional beauty, which had intimidated me in the statue; but I no longer experienced aught of this feeling, and my admiration rose to ecstasy. I stretched out my arms to seize her, for it seemed as if she were about to rush towards me leaping over a height of from five to six feet which still separated us.

I was mistaken. She stopped on the edge of the rock and made me a sign to move back.

I obeyed mechanically and saw her seat herself upon a marble dolphin, which at once began to roar in a genuine fashion; then suddenly all these hydraulic voices increased like a tempest and formed a truly diabolical concert around her.

I began to be somewhat unnerved when a ghostly greenish light, which seemed but a more brilliant moonbeam burst from I knew not where, distinctly revealing the features of the living naiad, so like those of the statue that I had to look twice in order to assure myself that it had not quitted its rocky chair of state.

Then, no longer seeking to unravel this mystery without any desire to comprehend it, I became dumbly intoxicated with the supernatural beauty of this apparition. The effect that it produced upon me was so absolute, that I never even thought of approaching it, in order to assure myself of its immateriality, as I had done before when it had appeared in my room.

And had I entertained such an idea, which I am altogether unconscious of doing, the fear of causing it to vanish by an audacious curiosity probably withheld me.

How did it happen that I was not overcome by the desire of verifying the evidence of my senses? ’Twas in truth the influence of the sublime naiad, with clear and living eyes, beaming with a fascinating sweetness, the naiad, with undraped arms, contours of transparent flesh and supple motions resembling those of childhood. This daughter of Heaven seemed at the utmost about fifteen years old. The ensemble of her figure expressed the perfect chastity of youth, while the charm of a mature womanly soul illuminated her features.

Her peculiar attire was precisely that of the naiad; a robe or floating tunic, made of some indescribable and marvellous tissue whose soft folds seemed wet and clinging; an exquisitely wrought diadem, and showers of pearls were entwined in her magnificent hair, with that mixture of peculiar luxury and happy caprice which characterizes the taste of the renaissance; in singular and charming contrast to the altogether simple garment, and which evinced its richness only in the easy grace of its arrangement and the minute finish of the jewels, and delicate details of the coiffure.