Serilda, now 18, assists at the village schoolhouse under the stern Madam Sauer. After Serilda tells the children the story of the night her father rescued a god who blessed her at birth, Madam Sauer scolds her for spreading lies that undermine lessons about honesty and humility. Serilda tries to defend herself, noting she volunteers her time to help the children. She worries about losing access to the students, who are among the few people in the village comfortable with her unusual eyes. She doesn’t want to work in town, likely spinning, which she despises. When Madam Sauer threatens her with the willow branch used for punishment, Serilda apologizes and promises to do better, but Madam Sauer dismisses the promise as yet another lie.

Leaving the schoolhouse, Serilda walks home to the mill. She notes the clear sky and knows she will be able to see the Snow Moon, the first full moon of the new year. Five schoolchildren—Anna, Fricz, Nickel, Gerdrut, and Hans—ambush her with snowballs, having waited in the cold to hear the rest of her story. Despite her earlier resolve, Serilda gathers them in a sheltered spot and tells a tale about the Wild Hunt’s origins. In her story, the Erlking’s lover, Perchta, desperately wanted a child, but dark beings cannot reproduce. When the fertility god refused to help her, the Erlking found a lost human baby in the Aschen Wood and brought it to her. Perchta cherished the child until he grew older, then declared she no longer wanted him. The Erlking took the boy into the forest and killed him. He’s been kidnapping lost children ever since to provide Perchta with constant supply of babies.

Serilda arrives home after dark, half-frozen. Her father scolds her for being out late on a full moon, when supernatural beings are more likely to snatch mortals on a whim. She admits she gave her mittens to Gerdrut and walked each child safely home.

During the night, Serilda wakes to distant howls growing closer, confirming the Wild Hunt is approaching. Though she resolves to stay in bed, she hears two frightened female voices outside trying to enter the locked cellar for shelter. She dresses, lights a lantern, and goes out to find two moss maidens—Parsley and Meadowsweet—with large black eyes, pointed ears, and bodies covered only by fur pelts despite the winter cold. Serilda unlocks the cellar and hides them inside, then rubs an onion on the door to mask their scent and tosses it in the river as the growling of hounds comes closer.

Hellhounds surge across the field, and one knocks Serilda into the snow but does not attack. A commanding voice orders it back. Serilda looks up to find the Wild Hunt assembled before her—two dozen ghosts and “dark one” riders on black horses, led by a tall, unsettlingly beautiful figure with pale skin and ice-colored eyes. He demands to know which direction his quarry has gone. Serilda claims ignorance, saying she is doing midnight harvesting. Pressed for details, she spots rye stalks and improvises that she is gathering straw to spin into gold. The leader notices her unusual eyes and misidentifies them as the mark of Hulda, god of labor. Serilda invents a story about her mother receiving a blessing that gave her firstborn miraculous spinning abilities. Still skeptical, the leader dismounts and holds a knife to her throat, demanding the truth.

Serilda directs the leader of the Hunt toward the Aschen Wood. She touches his wrist—frozen solid—and he jerks away, startled. She reinforces her lie by gathering straw from the field. A ghost rider with a fatal throat wound tells the leader she has heard of gold-spinners blessed by Hulda and believes the story. The leader signals the Hunt, and they vanish.

Serilda releases the moss maidens from the cellar. They explain that the Erlking hunts magical beings for sport, then insist on repaying their debt. Parsley gives Serilda a ring bearing a crest—a serpentine creature wrapped around the letter R—and Meadowsweet gives her a locket containing the portrait of a young, regal-looking girl. When Serilda protests, the maidens explain that refusing the gifts would bind them to her service. She accepts, and they depart.

The next morning, Serilda finds evidence of the night’s events—the open cellar, the onion-scented wood—but the snow shows no tracks from the Hunt. She tells her father everything truthfully and shows him the jewelry. He dismisses the account as another elaborate story, suggesting the jewelry came from a suitor. To ease his worry, Serilda invents a more fanciful lie, claiming she found the ring on a fairy’s toadstool and stole the necklace from a river spirit. Her father then reveals he has hired Thomas Lindbeck to work at the mill so Thomas can earn money to propose to Bluma Rask. Serilda, who likes Thomas, feels quietly heartbroken.

Over the following weeks, Serilda retells her encounter with progressive embellishments, replacing the moss maidens with other creatures or casting herself as a warrior who fought off hellhounds. Though audiences enjoy the stories, Serilda worries the truth is fading even from her own memory.

Four weeks later, on the night of the Hunger Moon, she spots a nachtkrapp—a supernatural raven with empty eye sockets—watching her from outside. Understanding that the full moon means the Hunt will ride again, she slams her door shut in fear.