Folgen Sie dem weißen Kaninchen

Hello :B.

So, I decided to write about german mythology during my spanish class today (?) and I just found this story about the Lorelei, a beautiful young maiden who spent all the sunny days sitting upon a rock above the rugged terrain of the water below. And then she sang and combed her hair.

Mesmerized by her beautiful song and entranced by the glimmer of her hair, boatmen below ran their ships along the rocks beneath the surface of the deep water sending themselves, their crew and their vessels to despair or worse, an untimely demise.

Some people say the Lorelei was an innocent maiden, others have suggested that she was a spirit born of tragedy, who had jumped to her death because of her lover's unfaithfulness and returned to torture men's souls forever. Other stories of the Lorelei claim she was a mermaid enjoying the frolic of men's attention and seemingly unaware of their pain.

The legend of the Lorelei, or Loreley as it is also known, has prevailed in Germany for centuries. The story was first popularized by Clemens Brentano around the year 1800, but the poem Die Lorelei, written by Heinrich Heine in 1838, captured the essence of the legend. By the mid twentieth century, the folk story was so popular that while other writings by Heine were burned or ban by Germany's Nazi leaders, the tale of the Lorelei remained.

It's unknown exactly how the name Lorelei became associated with these tales. It's certain that the second part of the name, "ley" means slate rock and has it's origins in old Celtic use, the exact meaning of the first part of the word is disputed. Some linguists believe it is related to an old Middle High German word that means "to attract", while others believe it may be connected with the notion of lurking or even murmuring. While the etymology of the name may be unclear, the mention of it always evokes the notion of a maiden's charm.

Probably the blinding gleam seen by sailors below was merely a reflection of sunlight off the high rocks of the cliffs above the city of St. Goarhausen. The sailor's sun blindness in conjunction with the extreme narrowness of the river passageway plus the unusual depth and undercurrents of the water at that particular point form the reality behind this German legend.