Page:Legends of Rubezahl, and Other Tales (1845).djvu/123

 saddled and bridled. Instantly vaulting upon its back, she was borne with the rapidity of the wind over moor and mountain, to the lovely valley Maienthal, where, once more restored to happiness, she threw herself into the arms of her beloved Ratibor, who had been there for some hours, full of the most solicitous suspense.

The busy Gnome, meantime, was so totally absorbed in his enumeration, that he neither saw nor heard anything that was going on. After infinite trouble and vexation, he had at length arrived at the precise number of turnips, large and small, which the field contained; and full of exultation, he flew to rejoin the lady of his love to render his account, in the hope of now fully convincing her that he should prove the most complaisant and obedient husband that ever fantastic and capricious daughter of Eve led by the nose. He presented himself on the great grass plot, with an air of very considerable self-satisfaction. Not finding there her whom he sought, he examined all the arbours and paths in the garden with equal want of success; he then rushed into the house, and looked into every corner of it, calling aloud the dear name of “Emma!” But the vaulted ceilings of the lone apartments alone repeated the beloved name; no Emma was there. All at once the truth flashed on his mind. Relieving himself instantly