~B. 1. Toward noon the young city‿gentleman returned from the Upper‿Lake, not having (and had not) caught a single (~einzig~) trout. 2. But after he [had] fished all the (the whole) afternoon (~Nachmittag~) in the Lower‿Lake, he had enough for (~zu~) a meal, and the granddaughter of the old miller was‿to prepare the fish for him.~
~3. While (~während~) she was doing that, the old [man] told him a long story about the water sprite who dwelt (_pres. subj._) in the Upper‿Lake and once had been (_perf. subj._) his very‿best friend. 4. “And how did you (~ihr~) become (_perf._) friends?” asked the young man. 5. “I had caught him in my net,” said the miller, “but I released him from the meshes, and then he invited me to dinner.” 6. “What? And you did not drown (_perf._)?” 7. “Oh no, because I anointed myself with the oil which he gave me before (~ehe~) we went down into‿the water.” 8. “But why are you friends no longer (now no friends more)?” 9. “Well, after dinner (~Tisch~) the sprite showed me in his magnificent (~prächtig~) hall more than [a] hundred earthen jars, which were all ticking (~ticken~) audibly. 10. This ticking, he said, came from the souls of the people that had drowned in the lake. 11. On one of (~von~) the jars [there] was written the name of my mother-in-law, who had been dead ten years (was already ten years dead). 12. She had been a most‿cantankerous woman and had made my life a hell, but because I thought (~meinen~) she had now been struggling long enough, I wanted‿to set her soul free. 13. So (~also~) I quickly lifted the cover, and like an air‿bubble her poor soul went up. 14. God be merciful to her! 15. As‿soon‿as (~sobald~) the water sprite saw what I had done, he took a willow‿switch and whipped away (~lospeitschen~) at (~auf~) me, but I succeeded (~gelingen~; _impers._) in reaching (coming to the) dry‿land.”~
~16. Here the miller’s granddaughter, a pretty lass with blond braids, announced that the trout were done‿to‿a‿turn, and the hungry fisherman went into‿the house with her. 17. There she told him, tapping (as, ~indem~, she tapped) her forehead with her finger, that something was not quite right with her dear old grandfather, but that he (that he, however,) harmed nobody.~