The Project Gutenberg EBook of Legends of the Rhine, by Wilhelm Ruland

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Title: Legends of the Rhine

Author: Wilhelm Ruland

Release Date: January 31, 2007 [EBook #20496]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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LEGENDS OF THE RHINE

BY

WILHELM RULAND

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PAINTINGS
BY CELEBRATED ARTISTS

8TH EDITION

KOeLN AM RHEIN
VERLAG VON HOURSCH & BECHSTEDT

"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.

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, I 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 disc