The men laughed.
"Now who would have thought that Hermann was so romantic!" they said. "And he has the fattest pigs and the biggest casks of wine in the village!"
Songs were proposed; everyone joined in; the voices of the nixies were heard above all, clear and beautiful as a bell. They began with one of the best-known songs in the German language which is always sung on especially jovial occasions, it begins:
| "I cannot tell why or wherefore |
| A legend of olden times |
| Deep in my heart is singing, |
| In mournful rhythmic rhymes." |
After several songs had been sung in unison, Hermann begged the young man who was the host that evening to ask the beautiful strangers to sing a song alone and of their own choosing, he longed to hear their voices, unspoilt by those of others.
The nixy maidens readily complied: was not singing their most natural mode of expressing themselves? They sang these verses to a weird, haunting melody:
| "The wild-fowl are calling: come back to the lake! |
| O nixies come back, or your proud hearts must break; |
| The moonbeams are glancing, the fairies are dancing, |
| Come back. |
| The grey mists are rising! Beware, O beware! |
| For though you are slender and though you are fair, |
| Your treacherous waters, O nixy king's daughters, |
| Can slay. |
| Beware the king's anger—O tempt not your fate, |
| The white water-lilies your coming still wait; |
| Wide open each flower until the twelfth hour— |
| Beware!" |
The old pendulum clock on the wall struck eleven. How fast the time had flown! The three beautiful maidens rose up hastily and departed, wishing a courteous "good night" and "good luck to you" to the company.
As Hermann opened the door for them, he saw a little dwarf with a lighted lantern waiting for them outside the door, and much as he wished to accompany them home, he did not dare to do so.
When they had left the room, a storm of conjecture burst forth; at last everyone agreed that they must be the nixies of the lake.