Karen Spear, age 14, of Springfield, I11., for her question:
WHAT IS THE LEGEND OF THE LORELEI?
The Lorelei is a high cliff that towers about 430 feet above the Rhine River in Germany between the towns of Mainz and Koblenz. Legend says that the echo heard at the cliff is the voice of a beautiful but wicked river nymph,luring boatmen to destruction.
As the Rhine River passes the Lorelei, which is pronounced Lawr uh lie, the water is extremely swift and dangerous. Over the years there have been many boating accidents at this location.
A German writer named Clemens Brentano may have invented the Lorelei myth in1802.The famous rock is also subject of a poem written by Heinrich Heine and an unfinished opera by Felix Mendelssohn. Over the years, other writers have also written about the Rhine River nymph named Lorelei.
The Rhine River is the most important inland waterway in Europe. It is about700 miles long and drains an area of about 75,700 square miles. The river rises in eastern Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria, France and Germany.
The RhineRiver is the most important inland waterway in Europe. It is about700 miles long and drains an area of about 75,700 square miles.Theriver rises in eastern Switzerland and it forms part of the borders of Switzerland, Liechtenstein. Austria, France and Germany.
The Rhine River flows through Germany and The Netherlands into the North Sea. From Basel,the Rhine River gradually widens and at Bingen, it leaves the plain and plunges into a narrow gorge through the Rhenish Slate Mountains. It is here where the legendary Lorelei sat and lured boatmen to destruction with her songs.
There are dozens of hills in this area around which center other legends, including those of the heroic Roland, Siegfried and other historic and mythical figures.
At Bonn,both river and valley widen again as the Rhine enters the North German Plain on its journey to The Netherlands and the broad delta leading into the North Sea. For 400 years the Rhine was the boundary between the Romans and the Germanic tribes.
To Germans, the Rhine River is a symbol of national history and strength. In Richard Wagner's operas, the Nibelungen ring, a magic ring of Rhine gold, gives its possessor power over the world. Two glacier fed mountain torrents rise and flow eastward in the high Alps of eastern Switzerland, close to the Italian border. One is the Vorder Rhine and the other is the Hinter Rhine.
From the union of these two rivers, the Rhine hurries along the edge of Austria and Lichtenstein to Lake Constance, 1,306 feet above sea level.This lake frees the river of its mountain mud and sends it westward to tumble over a fall 70 feet high at Schaffhausen. FromSchaffhausen the Rhine winds between German and Switzerland to Basel. At Basel the Rhine, now 225 years wide, turns to the north.