Middle Rhine River - Loreley

An ancient legend of the Rhine

The Loreley is a 132m-high steep slate rock on the east bank of the river Rhine, near Sankt Goarshausen in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. It marks the narrowest part of the river between Switzerland and the North Sea, and is the most famous feature of the Rhine Gorge, a 65 km section of the river between Koblenz and Bingen that was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in June 2002.

A very strong current and rocks below the waterline have caused many boat accidents there.

Lorelei is also the name of a feminine water spirit, similar to mermaids or Rhinemaidens, associated with this rock in popular folklore and in works of music, art and literature.

I cannot divine what it meaneth, This haunting nameless pain: A tale of the bygone ages Keeps brooding through my brain:	The faint air cools in the gloaming, And peaceful flows the Rhine, The thirsty summits are drinking The sunset's flooding wine;
The loveliest maiden is sitting High-throned in yon blue air, Her golden jewels are shining, She combs her golden hair;.	She combs with comb that is golden, And sings a weird refrain That steeps in a deadly enchantment The listener's ravished brain:
The doomed in his drifting shallop, Is tranced with the sad sweet tone, He sees not the yawing breakers, He sees but the maid alone:	The pitiless billwos engulf him!- So perish sailor and bark; And this, with her baleful singing, Is the Lorelei's gruesome work.

~ Translation by Mark Twain 1880 - A Tramp Abroad.

 
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