Small demon captures Chu Gou, Tien De releases him

The capture and release of Csongor by the little devils is a brief reversal in his pursuit of Tünde: the pursuer is caught and bound, then recognized and freed by the very person he seeks. Tünde’s intervention turns an apparent arrest into a moment of reunion, but she does not stay; she leaves Csongor beneath the tree, asleep and dreaming of happiness, with a wild-flower wreath as a token to wear until she returns.

The Ambush Beneath the Tree

Tünde has already instructed the little devils to keep watch in the region and to seize anyone they find resting at the foot of the tree. She tells them to hold such a person there and come back to report. The order establishes the circumstances of Csongor’s capture: the little devils are not simply wandering into his path, but acting as sentries under Tünde’s direction, with a specific lookout position and a specific response to anyone found resting there.

When Csongor arrives, the little devils rush out from their hiding places and grab him. He asks where he is and what fierce voice is sounding in his ear. Kurrah demands that he surrender, adding that he would have died of hunger anyway and that he will now be hanged. The devils tie him up, turning their threat into physical restraint; Berreh ironically calls the hanging an elevation and tells him not to grieve. The scene converts the tree’s resting place into a trap, and Csongor’s pursuit into an abrupt loss of control.

Recognition and Release

The capture is reported to Tünde as a success: Kurrah calls Csongor a robber and presents him as the prisoner her followers have secured. Tünde recognizes him at once. Her recognition breaks the little devils’ account of the encounter as the capture of an intruder: the supposed robber is the beloved whose arrival she has longed for. Her exclamation joins the joy of finding him to the sorrow and suffering that have preceded this moment, making the recognition a release in both the physical and emotional sense.

Tünde orders the little devils to unbind Csongor carefully and to return each to a post until summoned. They obey, free him, and leave. The instruction is measured rather than triumphant: Csongor is not awakened into a conversation or kept beside her. The release restores his freedom while preserving the scene’s watchful, temporary character, with Tünde’s attendants still positioned under her command.

A Meeting Interrupted by Sleep

The freedom the devils restore does not immediately become a waking reunion. Csongor lies down at the foot of the tree and falls asleep. Before he does, he dreams of his beloved’s beautiful eyes and of delight; Tünde arrives with the little devils after he has fallen asleep. The sequence gives their meeting a sharp asymmetry: she finds him at last, but he cannot respond to her presence because he is sleeping.

Tünde addresses him as the one her heart’s beating had foretold and says that their souls are bound by an unbreakable, gentler chain. The image recasts the devils’ ropes: the ropes have been removed, but a bond between the lovers remains, now named as intimate and enduring rather than coercive. Yet the language of connection does not cancel the separation built into the scene. Tünde says she will return, and the moment closes with Csongor still asleep rather than awake in her arms.

The Wreath and the Promised Return

Before leaving, Tünde gives Csongor a flower wreath, calling it the wilderness’s crown, and tells him to wear it until she comes back. The gift is a concrete sign of her presence and of the return she promises. Its setting matters: the wreath comes from the wild landscape where Csongor rests, not from an exchanged conversation between them, since he remains asleep as she departs.

Tünde says she will await the time of their greater joy and asks that Csongor continue sleeping and dream of her happiness. Her words make sleep both the condition that prevents recognition in the moment and the medium through which she leaves him an imagined reunion. The capture-and-release episode therefore ends not with the lovers together, but with Csongor freed, asleep, and wearing or meant to wear Tünde’s token while her promised return remains ahead. The little devils’ restraint has been undone; the separation between the lovers has not yet been resolved.