The company is on the other side of the Raab river

The company is on the other side of the Raab river.

Von Langenau is riding aimlessly, alone.

The plain. Evening. The metal fittings of the saddle gleam through the dust.

And then the moon rises. He can tell by looking at his hands.

He is dreaming.

But then a scream assaults him.

Screams upon screams

disrupt his dream.

It is no owl. Heaven have mercy:

The lone tree

screams at him:

You!

And he sees: It is writhing. A body is writhing

Against the tree, and a young female,

bloodied and naked,

snarls at him: Set me free!

And he jumps down into the black green,

And cuts through the hot ropes;

And he sees her burning glances,

And the baring of her teeth.

Is she laughing?

He shudders with dread

And is already up on his steed

And races into the night, the bloody ropes grasped firmly in his fist..