She could not even think enough to realize how terrible it would be for her to awake when the grave was filled in. She had no more power over her mind than has one who dreams. 'I should like to know,' she thought, 'if there is anything in the whole wide world that could make me wish to live.' As soon as that thought rushed through her it seemed to her as if the lid of the coffin, and the handkerchief which had been placed over her face, became transparent, and she saw before her riches and beautiful raiment, and lovely gardens with delicious fruits. 'No, I do not care for any of these things,' she said, and she closed her eyes for their glories. When she again looked up they had disappeared, but instead she saw quite distinctly a little angel of God sitting on the edge of the grave. 'Good-morning, thou little angel of God,' she said to him. 'Good-morning, Ingrid,' the angel said. 'Whilst thou art lying here doing nothing, I would like to speak a little with thee about days gone by.' Ingrid heard distinctly every word the angel said; but his voice was not like anything she had ever heard before. It was more like a stringed instrument; it was not like singing, but like the tones of a violin or the clang of a harp. 'Ingrid,' the angel said, 'dost thou remember, whilst thy grandfather was still living, that thou once met a young student, who went with thee from house to house playing the whole day on thy grandfather's violin?' The girl's face was lighted by a smile. 'Dost thou think I have forgotten this?' she said. 'Ever since that time no day has passed when I have not thought of him.' 'And no night when thou hast not dreamt of him?' 'No, not a night when I have not dreamt of him.' 'And thou wilt die, although thou rememberest him so well,' said the angel. 'Then thou wilt never be able to see him again.' When he said this it was as if the dead girl felt all the happiness of love, but even that could not tempt her. 'No, no,' she said; 'I am afraid to live; I would rather die.' Then the angel waved his hand, and Ingrid saw before her a wide waste of desert. There were no trees, and the desert was barren and dry and hot, and extended in all directions without any limits. In the sand there lay, here and there, objects which at the first glance looked like pieces of rock, but when she examined them more closely, she saw they were the immense living animals of fairy tales, with huge claws and great jaws, with sharp teeth; they lay in the sand, watching for prey. And between these terrible animals the student came walking along. He went quite fearlessly, without suspecting that the figures around him were living. 'But warn him! do warn him!' Ingrid said to the angel in unspeakable fear. 'Tell him that they are living, and that he must take care.' 'I am not allowed to speak to him,' said the angel with his clear voice; 'thou must thyself warn him.'