- When their parents accuse them of making the whole story up, the twins are annoyed. Did they make up an entire story about Merle and Erik, too? How they loved each other, but couldn't be together, and Erik drowned, and Merle went crazy and turned into a hare? Huh?
- The children's parents tell them to get to bed, but the real Laura interjects. She has heard a story like the one they mentioned, a long time ago.
- But it was different: Merle was rich, but Erik was, too. And he wasn't a fisherman, or a he. The story was about two women who fell in love—Merle and Erika—and that's why their love was forbidden.
- Of course, children shouldn't be hearing about things like this, but Laura remembers that Erika was very beautiful and dressed well—always in the same dress actually.
- Outside, the woman in that very same dress listens to the people in the house as she thinks about Merle—her love who went insane and turned in a hare.
- Now if you'll excuse us for a moment, we need to turn on all the lights.