Lorelei

lo're-li, an imposing cliff, 433 feet high, overhanging the right bank of the Rhine between St. Goar and Oberwessel. It is pierced by a railway tunnel. A footpath--a twenty minute climb--leads to the summit. A fine view of the Rhine may be had. A pool formed by a widening of the river below the rock is famous for salmon. There is a tradition that the Nibelungen treasure lies here. The river at this point flows over a ledge of sunken rock and is broken into dangerous whirlpools and rapids. There is an old legend that a nymph of the Rhine, the Lorelei, had her abode high on the cliff, that when ships were passing she would sit there combing her golden hair and singing a wild strain which so captivated the sailors that they heeded not the danger until they were hurled upon the rocks. As the cliff has always been famous for its echo, it is probable that the story is an idealization of the dangerous rock and its echo. Both poets and painters have made use of the tradition. Heine's poem, The Lorelei, which appeared in 1823, is one of the most popular ballads in the German language. See Rhine; Heine