LORELEY, St. Goarshausen: Beware Germany’s famous water nymph who lures sailors to their deaths
“Loreley — the Nymph of the Rhine” by Charles Edward Halle
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A power greater than the devil, a shipwrecking songstress or the ghost of a heartbroken sorceress.
Whichever you believe, the tale of Loreley is one of the most enigmatic and beloved tales of Germany’s richly historical middle Rhine region. But what lies behind the story of Loreley, the legendary water nymph?
Loreley has inspired numerous poems and pieces of classical music and has even serenaded her name into pop culture. So, you might be a little surprised that the Loreley is actually just a cliff. Standing 132m high on the bank of the river Rhine at St. Goarshausen, it’s recognised as a UNESCO world heritage site.
Then what’s so special about this towering rock, that it’s inspired such well-loved legends?
“The Rock of the Loreley” by Caspar Scheuren
It helps to start with the cliff itself, because its formation and location in the sharp bend of the Rhine river generates a peculiar echo. The name Loreley comes from the old German words lureln, local dialect for ‘murmuring’, and the Celtic term ley ‘rock’, hence murmuring rock.
This is because the heavy currents, the tight turn of the river, the small waterfall close by and the rock’s sheer cliff edge combine to create an amplified murmuring sound. You can easily imagine that it would feel pretty eerie sailing down a fast-rushing river with an echoing rumble all around you in stormy weather or in the dead of night.
Worse still, this is the most dangerous section of the river where it runs its deepest and narrowest. For hundreds of years, many sailors ran aground and were sucked under the waves by the powerful torrents and broken by the jagged rocks below.
Nowadays the route is marked out for easy sailing and unfortunately, due to urban development, the mysterious murmuring sound is hard to hear today.
And yet, there is more to the legend than gurgling of water and the echoes of a rock formation. Tales endure about a captivating woman whose beauty was so great that it hypnotised boatsmen time and time again.
The folklore around her varies from melodic siren to vengeful witch spirit, but there are some essential elements to the legend that prevail.
Let’s dive in and explore the four main Loreley legends.
The heartbroken and beautiful but deadly sorceress
“Loreley Cursed by Monks” by Johann Köler
In our first well-known tale, Loreley enchants us as a bewitching beauty forsaken by her lover.
Written in 1801 by romantic poet and novelist Clemens Brentano, the story goes that an enchanting young woman lived by the Rhine. She was in despair because she had been betrayed by her sweetheart, who had abandoned her and gone to a foreign land. She had many suitors, but she refused them all. Mysteriously, many of them either met their deaths or took their own lives out of lovesickness.
Accused of being a witch, the bishop took pity on her. To save this beautiful maiden from being burned at the stake, he offered her the chance to free herself of her suffering and become a nun. She resisted, so heartbroken and hopeless, that she begged instead for her own death.
But the bishop was charmed by her and insisted that she be saved. He called on three knights to come and take her to the cloister. On the way, they passed by the rock and she begged them to let her climb to the top, so that she could see her lost love’s castle one last time. They tied up their horses, and she began to race up the sheer cliff face. They struggled up after her, but she had already raced to the top, where she was elated to discover a ship was approaching in the distance. This had to be her love returning back to her.
Now, the poem tells that in her excitement, she stumbled and fell into the Rhine. The knights couldn’t hold on either and fell into the depths never to be seen again. But other accounts say that when she called her lover’s name, he was so bewitched that he didn’t see the rock and ploughed straight into it, drowning in the swirling currents. Devastated, she then threw herself in so that she could be reunited with her love forever.
Either way, from there on she haunts the rock and enchants sailors to crash into the rocks and drown in the deadly currents.
2. The hypnotic siren with golden hair
Illustration from “A book of myths” (1915) New York, by Helen Stratton
The second, and most popular story transforms Loreley from a forsaken enchantress into a magical siren.
It comes from a poem published by Heinrich Heine in 1824, inspired by Brentano’s ballad, which in turn had drawn on Ovid’s Greek myth of Echo.
It recites the writer’s woes that he can’t get an ancient tale out of his mind, about the fairest maiden he’d ever beheld. She is one who sits on the cliff summit by the glittering Rhine in the evening sun, combing her silken, golden hair with a comb made of gold. She sings so a powerful and fascinating a melody that the boatman below is gripped with such longing that he can’t take his eyes off her. And so, he doesn’t see the rocky reefs and is swallowed by the waves. It was the Loreley who brought him to an end.
Read the original poem or English translation by expanding the menu below
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Ich weiss nicht, was soll es bedeuten,
Dass ich so traurig bin;
Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten,
Das kommt mir nicht aus dem Sinn.
Die Luft ist kühl, und es dunkelt,
Und ruhig fliesst der Rhein;
Der Gipfel des Berges funkelt
Im Abendsonnenschein.
Die schönste Jungfrau sitzet
Dort oben wunderbar,
Ihr goldenes Geschmeide blitzet, Sie kämmt ihr goldenes Haar.
Sie kämmt es mit goldenem Kamme
Und singt ein Lied dabei;
Das hat eine wundersame,
Gewaltige Melodei.
Den Schiffer im kleinen Schiffe
Ergreift es mit wildem Weh;
Er schaut nicht die Felsenriffe,
Er schat nur hinauf in die Höh.
Ich glaube, die Welllen verschlingen
Am Ende Schiffer und Kahn;
Und das hat mit ihrem Singen
Die Lorelei getan.
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I don't know what it means
That I am so sad
A legend of bygone days
That I cannot keep out of my mind.
The air is cool and night is coming.
The calm Rhine courses its way.
The peak of the mountain dazzles
With evening's final ray.
The fairest of maidens is sitting
Up there, a beautiful delight,
Her golden jewels are shining,
She's combing her golden hair.
She holds a golden comb,
Singing along, as well
An enthralling
And spellbinding melody.
In his little boat, the boatman
Is seized by it with a savage woe.
He does not look upon the rocky ledge
But rather high up into the heavens.
I think that the waves will devour
The boatman and boat in the end
And this by her song's sheer power
Fair Loreley has done.
Although a fairly short poem, because it was set to music by Friedrich Silcher in 1837, it multiplied in popularity and endured across the centuries. Many other musicians have picked up the lyrics since, but the original remains a well-loved classic.
3. Commander of waves against foolish, vengeful men
Photogravure by Wilhelm Kray ca. 1878
Loreley wields magic and laughs in the face of fools in a further collection of local poems and folk tales.
In this collection by Ludwig Nies (Im Sagenland der Loreley, 1966), Loreley was a nymph-like maiden who would sing from deep within a cave in the cliff face. Again, many fishermen were so captivated by her serenades that they would lose their senses and crash on the rocks. But from time to time, a few did manage to get close. If Loreley took a shine to them, she would guide them through the waters and show them the richest spots to cast their fishing nets.
News of her travelled, until a young count of the Palatinate region found out about the mysterious maiden. Driven by desire, the adventurous youth left his court to win Loreley for himself.
When the sun had already set and the first stars appeared in the sky, his boat reached the point on the Rhine. High up on the steep rock, he saw the lovely appearance of the young woman. He watched her as she tied a wreath around her golden curls while singing a bewitching melody, and immediately, he fell desperately in love with her.
He commanded his boatmen to bring the boat ashore, but instead of guiding the vessel safely through the rushing river, none could take their eyes off her. Gripped by impatience, the count leapt into the dark waters to swim to the shore. He thrashed against the currents with all his might, but he was sucked into the depths, never to be seen again.
When his father received the tragic news, he was heartbroken. But his despair quickly turned to fury and he ordered the capture of the woman responsible, assembling his forces that very same night.
When his knights arrived, they surrounded the cliff and blocked the entrance to her grotto. The captain commanded her to surrender.
But the cornered creature only cackled, flung her pearl necklace into the river below and jeered, “Father, father, hurry, hurry, send your white horses to your son, he wants to ride with the waves and wind!”. Suddenly, huge waves rose up. She leapt onto the white foam crests that transformed into the shape of huge horses, and they carried her down the Rhine. Loreley rode on their backs into the sunset, laughing as the men looked on bewildered and shuddering. She was never seen again. Only her echo remained to mock those who come looking for her.
It seems that anyone that tries to cross Loreley will meet a bitter end.
4. A power greater than the devil
“Loreley” by L W Heupel
Long ago, the devil decided to take a boat trip down the Rhine.
He found himself in the narrow passage marked by the Loreley cliff. It seemed too narrow for his liking, so he resolved to widen it. He braced himself against the cliff and pushed hard against the hill on the other side, little by little, juddering them apart.
But suddenly, a beautiful song arose around him and he stopped. He laid eyes on the exquisite Loreley, her melody lulling him into a trance. Passion ignited within him like a flame, so hot that he began to steam. He wanted her for himself, but he had no power to take her.
When her song ended, he snapped back to his senses. Vexed by the intensity of her magic, he fled, never to return. But where he had been pressed against it, the cliff face had been burned black.
So, why the enduring fascination with Loreley?
Loreley statue on the Rhine
Folk tales new and old have their fair share of fascinating females that make sailors lose their senses and crash their ships, whether sirens or mermaids or other hypnotic water nymphs.
They remind us that losing sight of our way under the spell of a beguiling illusion is a sure way to find destruction.
But what I like about the Loreley is that there’s a sense of freedom and defiance about her. Whether she fell in the Rhine, jumped in or rode its horse-shaped waves, she refused to be forced into becoming a nun and she refused to be captured by anyone.
She owned her melody — and not even the devil could dare to try and take it from her.
Maybe what we can take from it is that there is freedom in being true to our own song, our own talents, regardless of what the world wants to impose on us. That is what we will be noticed and remembered for.
After all, Loreley’s legend continues to endure, poetically in the form of her very own song.
The song of the Loreley — “Loreleylied”
