A young shooter named Christian sat thoughtfully in the middle of the mountains, near a hunting hut, waiting for game, and recalled the past, how in his youth he had left his homeland behind in the hope of “breaking out of the circle of everything that he was used to from childhood ...” and find your happiness in a foreign land. Sad, he left his post and slowly descended from the mountain to the bank of the stream, where he stayed until late at night, listening to the changeable melody of the waves.

Still remaining deepened in his thoughts, Christian thoughtlessly pulled a sticking root out of the ground and at the same time heard a dull long moan under the soil, shaking his soul. In a fit of fear, the young shooter was about to leave such disturbing places when he suddenly saw behind him a hitherto unnoticed man who bowed tenderly to him and inquired about the reason for his concern. Gathering his courage, Christian told the stranger about the mysterious mournful sounds, a gloomily spent evening and melancholy eating him. “You are still young, and you are unable to bear the severity of a lonely life,” the man said, deciding for a while to make his new comrade travel.

"They walked, and the stranger seemed already an old friend of a young man." To somehow have fun on the road, the young shooter began a story about his life at the parent's hearth. His father was a gardener, passionately loving his craft and planning to teach him a son. But he could not stand caring for flowers. Instead, Christian dreamed of becoming a fisherman, then a merchant, why he even went to a merchant in the city, but soon returned home disappointed. Attraction to the hunting lifestyle began in a dreamy young man once, when the priest spoke about the mountains, "which he rode in his youth." Since then, life under native shelter was not sweet for Christian, and one spring morning he decided to leave his father’s house forever.

“A new world has opened before me; I didn’t feel tired. ” Having bypassed most of the alluring mountains, the young man went to the dwelling of an old forester, who had been in the service for three months, studying the local lands and learning how to hunt.

Coming out, finally, from the wilds of the dark forest to a split mountain range, the stranger extremely strongly advised Christian to direct his feet further along the path leading to the weathered ruins of the Runenberg castle, and he himself disappeared into the dark abyss of the crevice, at the bottom of which, next to the old mine was located his home.

Following the advice of a randomly acquired friend, the young hunter reached the ancient building and noticed the light in one of the windows. “His gaze directed there penetrated into the interior of an ancient vast hall,” where a woman of charming beauty undressed to the sounds of her melodious singing. “Naked she walked up and down the hall; the heavy curly curls formed a dark wavy sea near it, from which the brilliant members of a tender body shone like white marble. ” After some time, the bewitching nymph went to the gold vendor, taking out a stone tablet strewn with precious stones from it, and then she suddenly appeared at the window, opening it, and handed the frightened Christian her magical souvenir, saying: “Take it from memory!”. Everything disappeared before the eyes of an intoxicated young man.

It was morning. Christian woke up on a beautiful hill. The Runenberg ruins are far behind. The astonished and embarrassed young man took what happened in the dark for a dream.

Expecting to get to familiar lands, he came across a cozy but unfamiliar village around noon. The sweet sounds of the organ attracted him to the church. Listening to the sermon of a pious preacher, Christians accidentally saw a young girl, more than others deepened in prayer. “Never before has a young man’s heart been so full of love.” The gloomy ghost of the night lagged behind him and left.

On this day, the whole village celebrated the harvest, and the young man decided to join the celebration, especially since the girl from the church, young Lizaveta, the daughter of a wealthy manor, was also in the cheerful crowd. While the captivating beauty enjoyed dancing, Christian met her parents and entered the service of the gardener in their house.

From this time on, a new life began for a wanderer who left his homeland. Soon everyone in the house, especially the master's daughter, loved him cordially. Six months passed, and Lizaveta married Christian. And a year later he became the father of an amazing crumb, called Leonora.

As time passed, the young gardener enjoyed the happiness, clouded only by longing for his parents. "He especially thought, as if his father were pleased with his quiet happiness and gardening trade." And then Christian finally decided to embark on a journey and visit his homeland.

Once again he faced a ridge. “His legs gave way; he often stopped and was surprised at his fear and awe. ” Deciding to rest in the shade of a sprawling tree, Christians noticed an old man under him, looking at the flower with interest. His face seemed vaguely familiar to the young man. That was his father. Overjoyed by the meeting, the relatives threw themselves into each other's arms. Together with the newfound father, whose wife died and the shelter was empty, Christian returned to his wife and child.

Five years have passed. In the house to the once simple gardener, who has now become one of the most prominent people in the whole lane, a stranger who was returning from a trip asked for a bail. For three months, an uninvited guest huddled in a friendly and friendly family. On the fourth, he again embarked on the road, leaving his savings to save Christianity. “If I do not return within a year, then keep them as a token of gratitude for the friendship you showed me,” he said and left.

Too diligently kept the trusted gold of Christians, too often counted it, rejoicing at the flirty wink of coins and secretly hoping that the owner of the treasures would never return for them. Greed gradually devoured in the past a disinterested youth.

The agreed period has expired. There was no news of the stranger, and his fortune was consumed to expand the economy. Soon in the village they started talking about the prosperity of the young man. Christian was joyful and content. However, soon Lizaveta began to notice some oddities behind her husband: he raved in a dream, pacing around the room and muttering something about a stranger and a beautiful naked lady, did not go out to work in the field, claiming that he heard a terrible underground moan as soon as will pull out some root. The father tried to help his son, "convinced him to return to the true path", he tried to lead out of the "world of wild rocks". “I remember clearly how the plant first introduced me to the grief of the earthly world; from that time I understood the sighs and murmurs that are heard everywhere in nature, you just have to listen; in plants, herbs, flowers and trees, an extensive ulcer painfully festering; they are all the corpses of the old, magnificent, rocky world; they all show our eyes a terrible decay. I understand now, this is what I wanted to tell that root with my heavy sigh; he forgot himself from torment and revealed everything to me, ”the Christian told the old man in response to all his persuasions, again yielding to a rodent melancholy.

During the next harvest festival, he did not go to church, did not take part in village festivities. Instead, a young man, consumed by longing, wandered aimlessly through forest paths, where he suddenly met a disgusting-looking old woman who introduced herself as a forest woman. After a short conversation, the gnarled grandmother quickly disappeared between the trees, dropping the long lost and forgotten Christian plaque with precious stones, which the nude beauty from the Runenberg castle had once handed to him. Is it really this wondrous lady who turned before him a disgusting witch? Did he actually see among the branches its elastic camp and the luster of a golden cloak? Be that as it may, an accidental find ignited the smoldering greed inside. Once an exemplary husband forgot about his wife, deciding to head to a crumbling mine in search of wealth, and perished in her impenetrable darkness. The whole village regretted the missing manor.

Two years have passed. Christian's father died, and the parents of Lizaveta went down to the grave. The young widow remarried, unable to single-handedly manage the vast economy and unsuccessfully resist the inevitable ruin. Despite her hard work, only a few sheep and one cow were left of the former property.

In one of the days of misery, Lizaveta was sitting with work in the meadow and suddenly saw a strange appearance approaching from afar; it was a man in a completely tattered dress. He carried something heavy behind him in a tightly tied bag. Approaching closer, the eccentric ragged man greeted the discouraged woman and introduced herself to her as a long-vanished Christian, who had found the same unspeakable wealth. In support of his words, he untied and shook out a bag filled with ordinary stones, grabbed two flints, struck one another, carving sparks and warmly affirming the fire hidden in their hearts. Lizaveta did not know what to do, out of fright and pity. The madman turned away, went to the forest, where a terrible forest woman was waiting for him, and disappeared from sight. Since then, the unfortunate one has not shown up anymore.