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Updated: July 1, 2025
Nay, returned the maid, I drowned him not. Twas his own folly which cost him his life. As she stood on the brink of the precipice, her lips smiling, her eyes gleaming softly, her wet dark hair streaming over her shoulders, some strange, unearthly quality in her beauty, a potent spell fell upon the little company, so that even Diether himself could neither move nor speak.
Among his retainers there was but one who would undertake the venture a captain of the guard named Diether and the sole reward he craved was permission to cast the Lorelei into the depths she haunted should he succeed in capturing her. Diether and his little band of warriors ascended the Loreleis rock in such a way as to cut off all retreat on the landward side.
In some of the earlier traditions she is represented as an undine, combing her hair on the Lorelei-berg and singing bewitching strains wherewith to lure mariners to their death, and one such legend relates how an old soldier named Diether undertook to capture her.
A moment later, however, Diether sprang up from a ditch, seized the frightened boy, and ran back toward the mill. The girl had but little time in which to decide on a course of action. If she barricaded herself in the mill, might not the ruffian slay the child? On the other hand, if she waited to meet him, she had no assurance that he would not kill them both.
If she were to set the machinery in motion, the unusual sight of a mill at work on the day of rest would surely point to some untoward happening. Hardly had the idea entered her head ere the huge sails were revolving. At that very moment Diether had reached the interior of the great drum-wheel, and his surprise and horror were unbounded when it commenced to rotate.
And wouldst thou cast me in the Rhine, Diether? she pursued, smiling at the helpless warrior. Tis not I who go to the Rhine, but the Rhine that will come to me. Then loosening the jewelled band from her hair, she flung it on the water and cried aloud: Father, send me thy white steeds, that I may cross the river in safety.
Meanwhile Diether and his companions were almost overwhelmed by the floods, yet they were unable to stir hand or foot. In mid-stream the undine sank beneath the waves: the spell was broken, the waters subsided, and the captain and his men were free to return home. Nevermore, they vowed, would they seek to capture the Lorelei. The Forsaken Bride
Just as they reached the summit the moon sailed out from behind a cloud, and behold, the spirit of the whirlpool was seen sitting on the very verge of the precipice, binding her wet hair with a band of gleaming jewels. What wouldst thou with me? she cried, starting to her feet. To cast thee into the Rhine, sorceress, said Diether roughly, where thou hast drowned our prince.
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