Halloween story, indeed - they've heard Goethe turning in his grave :-)Remaining in the genre...Switezianka - The Nymph of Lake SwitezWho is the lad so comely and young And who is the maid at his sideWho walk by the Switez blue waters, among The moonbeams that shine on its tide'A basket of raspberries she holds out, He gives her a wreath for her hair;The lad is her lover, beyond a doubt, And she is his sweetheart fair, trackstar.Never a night but at dusk they stand On the shore by the old larch tree;The youth hunts here in the forest land, But the maiden is strange to me.You may ask in vain whence she comes and where She vanishes: no one knows.Like the crowfoot's moist bloom on the marsh, she is there - Like the will-o'-the-wisp, she goes.'Beautiful maid whom I love so well, Wherefore this secrecy'Where do your father and mother dwell, By what road do you come to me''Summer is over, the leaves grow brown, And the rains are about to break;Must I always wait here till you wander down To the shore of this desolate lake''Will you range through the wood like a heedless roe, Forever a ghost in the night'Stay rather with him who will love you so, With me, O my heart's delight!'My cottage is near where the woodland trees Spread their sheltering branches thick;There is plenty of milk, there is game when you please, And the fruit from the boughs to pick.''Nay, have done, haughty stripling, my father's tales Have forewarned me against your art:For the voice of a man is the nightingale's, But the fox's is his heart.'And I have more fear of your treachery Than belief in your changing flame;And were I to do what you ask of me Would you always remain the same''Then the youth knelt down and with sand in his palm He called on the powers of hellHe swore by the moon so holy and calm - Will he hold to his oath so well''I counsel you, hunter, to keep your oath And the promise that here you swore;For woe to the man who shall break it, both While he lives and forevermore.'So saying, she places her wreath on his brow And, making no longer stay,She has waved him good-by from afar and now She is over the field and away.Vainly the hunter increases his speed For her fleetness outmatches his own;She has vanished as light as the wind on the mead, He is left on the shore alone.Alone he returns on the desolate ground Where the marshlands heave and quakeAnd the air is silent - the only sound When the dry twigs rustle and break.He walks by the water with wandering tread, He searches with wandering eyes;On a sudden the winds through the deepwood spread And the waters seethe and rise.They rise and they swell and their depths divide- Oh, phantoms, seen only in dreams!On the field of the Switez all silver-dyed A beautiful maiden gleams!Her face like the petals of some pale rose That is sprinkled with morning dew;Round her heavenly form her light dress blows Like a cloud of a misty hue.'My handsome young stripling,' so o'er and o'er Comes the maiden's tender croon,'Oh, why do you walk on the desolate shore By the light of the shining moon''Why do you grieve for a wanton flirt Who has cozened you into her trap,Who has turned your head and has brought you to hurt And who laughs at you now, mayhap''Oh, heed my soft words and my gentle glance, Sigh and be mournful no more,But come to me here and together we'll dance On the water's crystal floor.'You may sleep in the silvery depths at night On a couch in a mirrored tentUpon water lilies soft and white, Amid visions of ravishment.'Her swan bosom gleams through her drapery, The hunter's glance modestly fallsAs the maiden draws nearer him over the sea And 'Come to me, come!' she calls.Then winging her path on the breeze she sweeps In a rainbow arch awayAnd cutting the waves in the watery deeps She splashes the silver spray.The youth follows after, then pauses once more, He would leap yet he still draws back;And the damp wave goes rippling away from the shore, Luring him on in its track.It lures caressingly over the sand Till his heart melts away in his breast,As when a chaste maid softly presses the hand Of the youth whom she loves the best.No longer he thinks of his own fair maid And the vow that he swore he would keep;By another enchantress his senses are swayed And he runs to his death in the deep.He hastens and gazes, he looks and he hastes, Till already the land is far;He is carried away on the lake's broad wastes Where its midmost waters are.Now his fingers clasp snowy-cool finger-tips, His eyes meet a beautiful face,He presses his lips against rosy lips, And he circles through dancing space.Then a little breeze whistled, a little cloud broke That had cast its deceiving shade,And the youth knows the maid, now unhid by its cloak- 'Tis his love of the woodland glade!'Now where is my counsel and where is your oath And the vow so solemnly swore'Oh, woe to the man who has broken it, both While he lives and forevermore!'Not for you is the silvery whirlpool's cup Nor the gulfs where the clear sea lies,But the harsh earth shall swallow your body up And the gravel shall put out your eyes.'For a thousand years shall your spirit wait By the side of this witnessing tree,And the fires of hell that never abate Shall burn you unceasingly.'He hears, and he walks with a wandering tread, He gazes with wandering eyes;Then a hurricane out of the deepwood sped And the waters seethe and rise.They seethe to their depths and the circling tide Of the whirlpool snatches them downThrough its open jaws as the seas divide: So the youth and the maiden drown.And still when the lake waters foam and roar, And still in the moon's pale light,Two shadows come flitting along the shore: The youth and the maiden bright.She plays where the lake glitters sliver and clear, He groans by the old larch tree;The youth hunted game in the forest here, But the maiden is strange to me.(translated from Polish by Dorothea Prall Radin)It's a bit long, sorry. The author is Adam Mickiewicz, the most celebrated Polish bard. Apart from writing nice ballads, he suffered terrible toothaches. In retaliation for his pain he wrote an epic poem, "Sir Thaddeus", which Polish people announced their national epic (it starts with the lines "Lithuania! My homeland!"). Every pupil has to read it (12 books, 10 000 verses) and learn large parts by heart. The nice part is that Mickiewicz studied natural sciences and there's a lot of beautiful references to physical phenomena and laws in the poem, e.g.Two burning hearts at the two endsof the earth converse together like stars with trembling beams.Who knows' Perhaps for this very reason the earth so aspirestowards the sun, and is thus ever dear to the moon'that theygaze upon each other eternally, and run towards each other bythe shortest path, but can never draw near to each other!'Kepler's law! Speaking of which... I have to GBTW