to the Rhine as a memory rather than as something actually
before his eyes. But very different is another fine patriotic song of
which it behoves to speak, the work of August Kopisch, a contemporary of
Mueller. This latter song treats of an incident in the Napoleonic wars,
and Bluecher and his forces are represented as encamped on the Rhine and
as debating whether to march forward against their French foes. Nor is
it necessary to add, perhaps, that they decide to do so, for otherwise
no German singer would have handled the theme!

But what, asks someone, is really the brightest gem of Rhineland poetry?
while someone else adds that the majority of the writers cited above are
but little known, and inquires whether none of the great German authors
were ever inspired to song by their beloved river. The name of Heinrich
Heine naturally comes to mind in this relation--comes to mind instantly
on account of what is surely his masterpiece, Die Lorelei--a poem
already dealt with.

But Heine's version far transcends all others, and pondering on its
beauty, we think first of its gentle, andante music, a music which
steals through the senses like a subtle perfume:

Ich weiss nicht was soll es bedeuten,
Dass ich so traurig bin;
Ein Maerchen aus alten Zeiten,
Das kommt mir nicht aus dem Sinn.

There, surely, is a sound as lovely as the fateful maiden herself ever
sang; and here, again, is a verse which is a tour de force in the craft
of landscape-painting; for not only are the externals of the scene
summoned vividly before the reader's eyes, but some of the mystery and
strangely wistful appeal of nature are likewise found in the lines:

Die Luft ist kuehl und es dunkelt
Und ruhig fliesst der Rhein;
Der Gipfel des Berges funkelt
Im Abendsonneaschein.

CHAPTER III--CLEVES TO THE LOeWENBURG

Lohengrin

The tale or myth of the Knight of the Swan who came to the succour
of the youthful Duchess of Brabant is based upon motives more or less
common in folklore--the enchantment of human beings into swans, and the
taboo whereby, as in the case of Cupid and Psyche, the husband forbids
the wife to question him as to his identity or to look upon him. The
myth has been treated by both French and German romancers, but the
latter attached it loosely to the Grail legend, thus turning it to
mystical use.

As a purely German story it is found at the conclusion of Wolfram von
Eschenbach's Parziv