Now the young people were saddened because their wonderful friends always left so early.  One night the boys decided to trick the mermaids.  One boy turned the church clock back an hour.  That night, the mermaids stayed longer than they should.  They were an hour late when they retuned home.

Their father was very angry.  He punished this deceit by sending water into the valley, flooding the village and drowning the people.

From that time on, the mermaids could not come into the valley and be among people.  But it was still possible to see them.  If you climbed the mountain you could watch the mermaids dancing in the lake until 1:00 A.M.  But it was very dangerous to do this.

The king would not forgive anyone he caught observing his daughters.  If you spied on the mermaids you could become entranced by their beauty. You might become hopelessly attracted, move too close, and even try to contact them.  If this happened it would be all too easy to fall into the lake.  Then the king of the water world could catch you.  He would take you down to the bottom, and there you would die.

The nymph of Lake Wildsee.  One day, a shepherd boy was playing his flute as his flock grazed nearby.  Suddenly he heard the lovely sound of a harp coming from Lake Wildsee.  His curiosity roused, he was tempted to leave his sheep and go to the lake. There he saw a beautiful nymph.  She was playing the harp with one hand and stroking a deer with the other.

When she saw him watching, she raised one hand to caution him not to come close.  “I am called Meline,” she said, “but be warned. The lake will be your grave if you call my name.”

The boy went back to his flock.  But he could not forget what he had seen.  He felt that he was a man, and his heart was filled with desire for the mysterious beauty. So he became increasingly unhappy.

Then one day an old man approached.  He felt sorry for the shepherd.  “Run away from this place, boy,” he warned. “You would not be the first to perish in her arms.”  

But no one escapes his fate.  The boy kept returning to the lake in hopes of seeing the nymph again.  One day, when he was alone at the lake, he called her name.  “Meline. Meline. Where are you?”