Mountain lawn with a small hut under an overhanging cliff. At the edge of the well, young Rautendelein, a creature from the fairies, sits and combs her thick reddish-golden hair. Leaning over the edge of the log house, she calls Vodyanogo. She’s bored, Wittich’s grandmother has gone into the woods, you look, chatter will fly by faster. Watery out of sorts, he was tired of the ridicule and taunts of a charming prankster. Rautendelein urges Lesha to entertain her, but he quickly bothers her with his annoying courtship. The girl is hiding in the hut.
Goblin boasts how successful his last fun was. Over the cliff, people built a new church. Eight horses carried a bell to her in a cart, and he grabbed the wheel, the bell staggered, rushed down the stones with a ringing and a rumble, and drowned in the lake. If it were not for him, Leshy, to agitate, the bell would torture them all with his unbearable howl.
A weary, weakened Henry, the bell caster, appears and falls on the grass near the hut. He plunged into the abyss, where he miraculously got out, and then got lost. Old Wittich, returning from the forest, stumbles upon Henry. Only this was not enough, and so there is no life from the pastor and the burgomaster, and if it turns out that there is a dead man, they can easily burn the hut. She instructs Rautendelein to bring an armful of hay and to arrange more conveniently the lying man, to give him a drink. Waking up Henry was struck by the beauty of a young girl. Perhaps she dreamed of a dream or he died. And this gentle, divine voice, as if he wanted to pour it into the copper of the bell. Henry falls into oblivion. The approaching voices of people are heard - this Goblin led them to the trail of a master. A frightened old woman hastily extinguishes the fire in the house and calls for Rautendelein, ordering him to leave Henry - he is mortal, even if she gives it to mortals. But the girl does not want people to take Henry at all. Remembering her grandmother’s lessons, she breaks a flowering branch and draws a circle around the lying one.
The Pastor, the Barber and the Teacher appear, they are perplexed - Henry fell into the abyss, and for some reason, cries for help came from above, they scrambled up the cliffs with difficulty. The pastor is discouraged: such a beautiful and bright holiday of God, and so it ended. The barber, looking around, calls to quickly leave the clearing - this is a cursed place, and there’s the hut of the old sorceress. The teacher declares that he does not believe in witchcraft. By the groaning sounds, they find Henry lying, but they cannot come closer to him, they stumble upon an enchanted circle. And then Rautendelein, scaring them, sweeps past with a devilish laughter. The pastor decides to defeat Satan's insidiousness and resolutely knocks on the door of the hut. Wittich does not want unnecessary trouble, removes the witching spell, let him take his master, but he will not live long. Yes, and mastery is not painfully strong, the sound of the last bell was bad, and he alone knew this and was tormented. Henry is put on a stretcher and carried away. Rautendelein cannot understand what is happening to her. She cries, explains Watery, these are tears. She is attracted to the world of people, but this will result in death. People are miserable slaves, and she is a princess, he once again calls her to his wife. But Rautendelein rushes to the valley, to the people.
House of the bell caster of master Heinrich. His wife Magda dresses two young sons, gathering in the church. The neighbor persuades her not to rush, the church in the mountains is visible from the window, but there is no white flag that they were going to raise as soon as the bell was hung. Rumor has it that not everything is safe there. Alarmed Martha leaves the children in her care and is in a hurry to her husband.
They bring Henry to the house on a stretcher. The pastor consoles Magda: the doctor said that there is hope. He became a victim of the fiends of hell, who, fearing the holy ring, tried to destroy the master. Magda asks everyone to leave, brings water to her husband. He, feeling a near end, says goodbye to his wife, asks her forgiveness for everything. The last bell he failed, he would have sounded bad in the mountains. And it would be a shame for the master, death is better. So he threw his life after the useless creation. The pastor advises Magda to go to the healer Findekla. A Routendelein dressed as a maid appears with a basket of wild berries. So the girl will sit with the patient for now. Without losing time, Rautendelein begins to conjure. Waking up Henry is perplexed - where did he see this divine creature? Who is she? But Rautendelein herself does not know this - the forest grandmother found her in the grass, raised her. She has a magical gift - she will kiss her eyes, and they will open to all the heavens.
Magda, who returned home, is happy: her husband wakes up healthy, he is full of energy and thirst to create.
Abandoned foundry in the mountains. Waterman and Leshiy are angry and envious: all day Heinrich cooks metals, and spends nights in the arms of the beautiful Rautendelein. The Goblin does not miss the chance to poke a girl: if he had not pushed the cart, the noble falcon would not have got into her net. The Pastor comes, wants to return the lost sheep back, by means of witchcraft lured a pious man, the father of the family. Seeing Henry, the Pastor is amazed at how beautiful he looks. The master tells with enthusiasm what he is working on: he wants to create a bell game, he will lay the foundation of a new temple high in the mountains, and the jubilant, triumphant ringing will herald the birth of the day to the world. The pastor is outraged by the wickedness of the master’s thoughts, this is all the influence of the damned witch. But the day of repentance will come for him, then he will hear the voice of a bell drowned in a lake.
Henry works in a smelter, pushing his apprentice gnomes. From fatigue, he falls into a dream. Water grumbles - he decided to compete with God, but he himself is weak and miserable! Heinrich is tormented by nightmares, it seems to him that a bell drowned in the lake sounds, trembles, tries to rise again. He calls for help Rautendelein, she affectionately reassures the master, nothing threatens him. Goblin meanwhile called on people, inciting to set fire to the smelter. A stone falls into Rautendelein, she calls on Vodyaniy to flush people into the abyss with streams of water, but he refuses: the master, who intended to reign over God and people, hates him. Henry fights the advancing crowd, throwing burning bunts and granite boulders. People are forced to retreat. Rautendelein encourages him, but Henry does not listen to her, he sees how two boys climb barefoot along the narrow mountain trail, wearing only shirts. What's in your jug? He asks the sons. Tears of mother lying among water lilies - answer ghosts. Henry hears the ringing of a drowned bell and, cursing, drives Rautendelein away from him.
The lawn with Wittich's hut. The exhausted and mournful Rautendelein descends from the mountains and rushes into the well in desperation. Goblin tells Vodyany that Henry left the girl, and he burned his smelter in the mountains. Waterman is pleased, he knows who moved the dead tongue of the drowned bell - the drowned Martha.
An exhausted, completely sick Henry appears, sends a curse to the people who brought his wife to death, calls Rautendelein. He tries unsuccessfully to climb higher into the mountains. He himself pushed away a bright life from himself, the old woman grumbles, was invited, but did not become the chosen one, and now he has been hunted by people, and his wings are forever broken. Henry himself will not understand why blindly and thoughtlessly obeyed the bell created by him and the voice that he himself put into it. It was necessary to break that bell, not to enslave itself. He begs the old woman to let him see Rautendelein before his death. Wittich sets three goblets in front of him with white, red and yellow wine. He will drink the first - he will return to his strength, drink the second - the bright spirit will descend, but then he must drain the third goblet. Henry drinks the contents of two goblets. Rautendelein appears - she has become a mermaid. She does not want to recognize Henry and does not want to recall the past. He begs Rautendelein to help him free himself from torment, to serve the last goblet. Rautendelein hugs Henry, kisses him on the lips, then slowly lets go of the dying man.
