The story continues. The miller-maid asks the young miller for the green ribbon by which his lute hangs, and he gives it to her, still imagining she loves him. Before he can summon the courage to tell her his love, a horn blows, dogs yap in chromatic cacophony, and a bragging, noisy hunter gallops down to the mill (all described in the text and echoed in the piano part (“The Hunter”). The miller's response, “Jealousy and Pride” is a hissy fit worthy of grand opera. The poor fellow nonetheless loses the miller-maid to his noisy rival (“Withered Flowers”). After a long dialogue in which the brook tries but fails to reassure him that better times will come to him in the springtime (“The Miller and the Brook”), he throws himself into the millpond, and the brook rocks him gently into endless sleep.
These are today’s song titles, as translated by Michèle Lester.
13. With the Lute’s Green Ribbon
14. The Huntsman
15. Jealousy and Pride
16. The Beloved Color
17. The Wicked Color
18. Withered Flowers
19. The Miller and the Brook
20. The Brook's Lullaby