We had a most interesting conversation, and I was not a little moved, as I observed that these foreigners who had travelled over half the world, and had seen the grandeur of Switzerland and the charms of Italy, should have such an unaffected admiration for our grand old river. I am rather sorry for those who neglect the Rhine. "Aren't Lohengrin and Siegfried, immortalised by the great Master of Bayreuth, also heroic figures in your Rhine legends?" remarked the young Anglo-American enthusiastically. It was the first time I had seriously thought of this. I was indeed touched, and my thoughts travelled back to the days of "long, long ago" when as a little chap in my native Bonn, I had first listened with interest to the charming voices of the golden-haired daughters of old Albion who came in large numbers to reside in the famous Beethoven-town.
As I separated from my friends at the foot of the Drachenfels I gave them a small present to keep as a memento of the Rhine and one of its poets.
=Thusis on the Hinter Rhine.= The Last Hohenrätier 10
=Castle Niedeck.= The Toy of the young Giantess 20
=Valley of the Nahe. Kreuznach.= A mighty draught 62
=Assmannshausen.= St. Clement's Chapel 69
=The Ruins of Fürstenberg.= The Mother's Ghost 79
=Sterrenberg and Liebenstein.= The Brothers 109
=Castle Lahneck.= The Templars of Lahneck 120
=Valley of the Moselle.= The Doctor's wine of Bernkastel 125
=Hammerstein.= The old Knight and his Daughters 138
=Valley of the Ahr.= The Last Knight of Altenahr 142
=Aachen.= The Building of the Minster 154
=Godesberg.= The High Cross at Godesberg 192
[Illustration: Aus dem Quellgebiet des Rheines--Near the Source of the Rhine--Au pays du Rhin]
In the region where the Rhine has its source there towered in ancient times a green Alp. This Alp belonged to an honest peasant, and along with a neat little house in the valley below formed his only possession.
The man died suddenly and was deeply mourned by his wife and child. Some days after an unexpected visitor was announced to the widow. He was a man who had much pastureland up in that region, but for a long time his one desire had been to possess the Alp of his neighbour now deceased, as by it his property would be rounded off to his satisfaction.