Legends of the Rhine (Sagen vom Rhein)

With Illustrations from Paintings by celebrated Artists
Autor: Ruland, Wilhelm Dr. (1869-1927) deutscher Literaturwissenschaftler, Hauslehrer, Zeitungs-Redakteur und Schriftsteller, Erscheinungsjahr: 1906/1896
Themenbereiche
Enthaltene Themen: Rhein, Sagen, Volksmund, Rheinsagen, Burgen und Schlösser, Mittelalter, Ritter, Märchen, Überliegerungen
"O, the pride of the German heart is this noble river! And right it is; for of all the rivers of this beautiful earth there is none so beautiful as this.“
        Longfellow.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
  1. St. Gotthard. The Petrified Alp
  2. Thusis on the Hinter Rhine. The Last Hohenrätier
  3. Bodensee. The Island of Mainau
  4. Basle. One Hour in Advance
  5. Castle Niedeck. The Toy of the young Giantess
  6. Strassburg. The Cathedral Clock
  7. Strassburg. The little Man at the Angels Pillar
  8. Worms. The Nibelungen Lied
  9. Speyer. The Bells of Speyer
  10. Frankfort. The Knave of Bergen
  11. Mayence. Heinrich Frauenlob
  12. Mayence. Bishop Willigis
  13. Johannisberg
  14. Ingelheim. Eginhard and Emma
  15. Rüdesheim. The Brömserburg
  16. Bingen. The Mouse-Tower
  17. Valley of the Nahe. Kreuznach. A mighty draught
  18. Valley of the Nahe. The Foundation of Castle Sponheim
  19. Assmannshausen. St. Clements Chapel
  20. Castle Rheinstein. The Wooing
  21. Castle Sooneck. The Blind Archer
  22. The Ruins of Fürstenberg. The Mothers Gost
  23. Bacharach. Burg Stahleck
  24. Kaub. Castle Gutenfels
  25. Oberwesel. The Seven Maidens
  26. St. Goar. Lorelei
  27. Rheinfels. St. Georges Linden
  28. Sterrenberg and Liebenstein. The Brothers
  29. Rhense. The Emperor Wenzel
  30. Castle Lahneck. The Templars of Lahneck
  31. Coblenz. Riza
  32. Valley of the Moselle. The Doctors wine of Bernkastel
  33. Andernach. Genovefa
  34. Hammerstein. The old Knight and his Daughters
  35. Valley of the Ahr. The Last Knight of Altenahr
  36. Valley of the Ahr. The Minstrel of Neuenahr
  37. Eifel. The Arrow at Prum
  38. Aachen. The Building of the Minster
  39. Aachen. The Ring of Fastrada
  40. Rolandseck. Knight Roland
  41. Siebengebirge. The Drachenfels
  42. Siebengebirge. The Monk of Heisterbach
  43. Siebengebirge. The Origin of the Seven Mountains
  44. Siebengebirge. The Nightingale Valley at Honnef
  45. Godesberg. The High Cross at Godesberg
  46. Bonn. Lord Erichs Pledge
  47. Bonn. The Roman Ghosts
  48. Cologne. Richmodis of Aducht
  49. Cologne. The Goblins
  50. Cologne. Jan and Griet
  51. Cologne. The Cathedral-Builder of Cologne
  52. Xanten. Siegfried
  53. Cleve. Lohengrin
  54. Zuydersea. Stavoren
Prefatory Note.

Last year I made the journey between Mainz and Bonn on one of our splendid Rhine steamers. Our vessel glided along like a great water-bird. On the shore rose mountains, castles, and ruins, and over all the sun shined brightly from a blue August sky. It was twelve years since I had visited the scenes of my youth, and every Rhinelander will understand with what pleasure I saw again those smiling landscapes arrayed in their summer beauty. Wandering back to my deck-chair, soon became absorbed in the ever-changing panorama.

Then the sound of a melodious female voice speaking English fell on my ears. I looked around. A girl was bending over a book, and entertaining her father and mother by reading something of special interest and beauty. I listened and recognised some of my own sentences rendered into the speech of Shakespeare. These three were learning to feel the charms of the Lorelei legend as I had felt it. I confess my pulse beat quicker as I heard my poor endeavours highly praised, and I could not refrain from advancing and thanking the young reader for her kindly appreciation of my endeavours. She seemed delighted when she discovered that I was the author, and rose to greet me in the most amiable manner. I complimented the travellers that during the past century the Rhine had become the home of romance for the english speaking nations, the same as Italy for the Germans. The girl smiled, and remarked that I must pay that compliment to her mother in particular, as she was by birth an Englishwoman. But the head of the family hastened to add that among Americans, whom he might speak for, the enthusiasm for the beauties of the Rhine was not less than among their Anglo-Saxon cousins. These two nations which are bound by so many ties to each other, and also to ourselves, were thus represented before me. The English-speaking people undoubtedly form by far the largest contingent of our Rhine travellers, and it was pleasant indeed to receive so fine a testimonial to the beauties of my birth place.

We had a most interesting conversation, and I was not a little moved, as I observed that these foreigners who had travelled over half the world, and had seen the grandeur of Switzerland and the charms of Italy, should have such an unaffected admiration for our grand old river. I am rather sorry for those who neglect the Rhine. „Aren't Lohengrin and Siegfried, immortalised by the great Master of Bayreuth, also heroic figures in your Rhine legends?“ remarked the young Anglo-American enthusiastically. It was the first time I had seriously thought of this. I was indeed touched, and my thoughts travelled back to the days of „long, long ago“, when as a little chap in my native Bonn, f had first listened with interest to the charming voices of the goldenhaired daughters of old Albion who came in large numbers to reside in the famous Beethoven-town.

As I separated from my friends at the foot of the Drachenfels I gave them a small present to keep as a memento of the Rhine and one of its poets.

Munchen, Mai 1906.
      Dr. Wilhelm Ruland.

00. Cover. Legends of the Rhine

00. Cover. Legends of the Rhine

01. Die Loreley. Nach dem Gemälde von E. Steinle

01. Die Loreley. Nach dem Gemälde von E. Steinle

02. Aus dem Quellgebiet des Rheines. Near the Source of the Rhine

02. Aus dem Quellgebiet des Rheines. Near the Source of the Rhine

03. Der letzte Hohenrätier. The Last Hohenrätier. Nach einem Gemälde von E. Stückelberg.

03. Der letzte Hohenrätier. The Last Hohenrätier. Nach einem Gemälde von E. Stückelberg.

04. Siegfried schleppt einen Bären ins Lager. Nach einer Lithographie von Peter Cornelius.

04. Siegfried schleppt einen Bären ins Lager. Nach einer Lithographie von Peter Cornelius.

05. Das Riesenspielzeug. The Giant’s Toy. Nach dem gemälde von Cnopf.

05. Das Riesenspielzeug. The Giant’s Toy. Nach dem gemälde von Cnopf.

10. Karl der Große. Nach dem Gemälde von Albrecht Dürer.

10. Karl der Große. Nach dem Gemälde von Albrecht Dürer.