INTRODUCTION

    CHAPTER I—TOPOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL

    CHAPTER II—THE RHINE IN FOLKLORE AND LITERATURE

    CHAPTER III—CLEVES TO THE LÖWENBURG

    LEGENDS OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE

    CHAPTER IV—DRACHENFELS TO RHEINSTEIN

    CHAPTER V—FALKENBURG TO AUERBACH

    CHAPTER VI—WORMS AND THE NIBELUNGENLIED

    CHAPTER VII—HEIDELBERG TO SÄCKINGEN

    Conclusion

   An abundance of literature exists on the subject of the Rhine and its legends, but with few exceptions the works on it which are accessible to English-speaking peoples are antiquated in spirit and verbiage, and their authors have been content to accept the first version of such legends and traditions as came their way without submitting them to any critical examination. It is claimed for this book that much of its matter was collected on the spot, or that at least most of the tales here presented were perused in other works at the scene of the occurrences related. This volume is thus something more than a mere compilation, and when it is further stated that only the most characteristic and original versions and variants of the many tales here given have gained admittance to the collection, its value will become apparent.

   It is, of course, no easy task to infuse a spirit of originality into matter which has already achieved such a measure of celebrity as have these wild and wondrous tales of Rhineland. But it is hoped that the treatment to which these stories have been subjected is not without a novelty of its own. One circumstance may be alluded to as characteristic of the manner of their treatment in this work. In most English books on Rhine legend the tales themselves are presented in a form so brief, succinct, and 

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