"Thou art bold, young mortal," - said the Water Spirit, with trembling tones, for she felt already the power of Love. "And wherefore say thy tribe such harsh legends of my song? Who ever perished by my art? Do I not rather allay the wind and smooth the mirror of the waves? Return to thine home safely and in peace, and vindicate, when thou hearest it maligned, the name of the Water Spirit of the Rhine."
"Return!" - said the Stranger haughtily - " never, until I have touched thee - knelt to thee - felt that thy beauty is not a dream. Even now my heart bounds as I gaze on thee! Even now I feel that thou shalt be mine! Behold! I trust myself to thine element! I fear nothing but the loss of thee!"
So saying the young man leapt into the water, and in a minute more he knelt by the side of Lurline.
It was the stillest hour of night; the stars were motionless in the heavens: the moonlight lay hushed on the rippling tide:- from cliff to vale, no living thing was visible, save them, the Spirit and her human wooer.
"Oh!" - said he, passionately, - "never did I believe that thy voice was aught but some bodily music from another world; - in madness, and without hope, I tracked its sound homeward, and I have found thee. I touch thee! - thou livest! - the blood flows in thy form! thou art as woman, but more lovely! Take me to thy blue caverns and be my bride!"
As a dream from the sleeper, as a vapour from the valley, Lurline glided from the arms of the stranger, and sunk into the waters; the wave closed over her, but, beneath its surface, he saw her form gliding along to the more shadowy depths; he saw, and plunged into the waves!
The morning came, and the boat still tossed by the Lurlei Berg - without a hand to steer it. The Rhine rolled bright to the dewy sun, but the stranger had returned not to its shores.
The cavern of the Water Spirit stretches in many chambers beneath the courses of the river, and in its inmost recess - several days after the stranger's disappearance - Lurline sat during the summer noon; but not alone. Love lighted up those everlasting spars, and even beneath the waters and beneath the earth held his temple and his throne.
"And tell me, my stranger bridegroom," - said Lurline, as the stranger lay at her feet, listening to the dash of the waters against the cavern - " tell me of what country and parentage art thou? Art thou one of the many chiefs whose castles frown from the opposite cliffs? - or a wanderer from some distant land? What is thy mortal name?"
"Men call me Rupert the Fearnought," - answered the stranger. "A penniless chief am I, and a cheerless castle do I hold; my sword is my heritage; - and as for gold, the gold which my Sire bequeathed me, alas! on the land, beautiful Lurline, there are many more ways of getting rid of such dross than in thy peaceful dominions beneath the river. Yet, Lurline," - and the countenance of Rupert became more anxious and more earnest -" Is it not true that the Spirits of thy race hoard vast treasures of gems and buried gold within their caves? Do ye not gather all that the wind and tempest have sunk beneath the waves in your rocky coffers? And have ye not the power to endow a mortal with the forgotten wealth of ages?"
"Ah, yes!" - answered the enamoured Water Spirit. "These chambers contain enough of such idle treasures, dull and useless, my beloved, to those who love."
"Eh - em!" - quoth the mortal - "what thou sayest has certainly a great deal of truth in it; but - but just to pass away the next hour or two - suppose thou showest me, dearest Lurline, some of these curiosities of thine. Certes I am childishly fond of looking at coins and jewels."
"As thou wilt, my stranger," answer Lurline, and, rising, she led the way through the basalt arches that swept in long defiles through her palace, singing with the light heart of contented love to the waves that dashed around. The stranger followed wondering - but not fearing - with his hand every now and then, as they made some abrupt turning, mechanically wandering to his sword, and his long plume waving lightly to the rushing air, that at times with a hollow roar swept through their mighty prison. At length the Water Spirit came to a door, before which lay an enormous shell, and, as the stranger looked admiringly upon its gigantic size, a monstrous face gradually rose from the aperture of the shell, and with glaring eyes and glistening teeth gloated out upon the mortal.
Three steps backward did Rupert the Fearnought make, and three times did he cross himself with unwonted devotion, and very irreverently, and not in exact keeping with the ceremony, blurted he forth a northern seafarer's oath. Then outflashed his sword; and he asked Lurline if he were to prepare against a foe. The Water Spirit smiled, and murmuring some words in a language unknown to Rupert, the monster slowly wound itself from the cavities of the shell; and, carrying the shell itself upon its back, crept with a long hiss and a trailing slime from the door, circuitously approaching Rupert the Fearnought by the rear. "Christe beate! " ejaculated the lover, veering round with extreme celerity, and presenting the point of the sword to the monster, "What singular shell-fish there are at the bottom of the Rhine!" Then, gazing more attentively on the monster, he perceived that it was in the shape of a dragon, substituting only the shell for wings.
"The dragon-race," said the Water Spirit, "are the guardians of all treasure, whether in the water or in the land. And deep in the very centre of the earth, the hugest of the tribe lies coiled around the load-stone of the world."
The door now opened. They entered a vast vault. Heavens! how wondrous was the treasure that greeted the Fearnought's eyes! All the various wrecks that, from the earliest ages of the world, had enriched the Rhine or its tributary streams, contributed their burthen to this mighty treasury: there was the first rude coin ever known in the North, cumbrous and massive, teaching betimes the moral that money is inseparable from the embarrassment of taking care of it. There were Roman vases and jewels in abundance; rings, and chains, and great necklaces of pearl: there, too, were immense fragments of silver that, from time to time, had been washed into the river, and hurried down into this universal recipient. And, looking up, the Fearnought saw that the only roof above was the waters, which rolled black and sullenly overhead, but were prevented either by a magic charm, or the wonderful resistance of the pent air, from penetrating farther. But wild, and loud, and hoarse was the roar above, and the Water Spirit told him, that they were then below the Gewirre or Whirlpool which howls along the bank opposite to the Lurlei Berg.
"I see," - quoth the bold stranger, as he grasped at a heap of jewels, - " that wherever there is treasure below the surface, there is peril above!"
" Rather say," - answered the Water Spirit - "that the whirlpool betokens the vexation and strife which are the guardians and parents of riches."
The Fearnought made no answer; but he filled his garments with the most costly gems he could find, in order, doubtless, to examine them more attentively at his leisure.
And that evening as his head lay upon the lap of the Water Spirit, and she played with his wreathy hair, Rupert said, "Ah, Lurline! ab, that thou wouldst accompany me to the land. Thou knowest not in these caves (certainly pretty in their way, but, thou must confess, placed in a prodigiously dull neighbourhood); - thou knowest not, I say, dear Lurline, how charming a life it is to live in a beautiful castle on the land." And with that Rupert began to paint in the most eloquent terms the mode of existence then most approvedly in fashion. He dwelt with a singular flow of words on the pleasures of the chase: he dressed the water-nymph in green - mounted her on a snow-white courser - supposed her the admiration of all who flocked through the green wood to behold her. Then he painted the gorgeous banquet, the Lords and Dames that, glittering in jewels and cloth of gold, would fill the hall over which Lurline should preside - all confessing her beauty, and obedient to her sway; harps were for ever to sound her praises; Minstrels to sing and Knights to contest for it; and, above all, he, Rupert himself, was to be eternally at her feet -" Not, dearest Love," (added he, gently rubbing his knees) "on these rocky stones, but upon the softest velvets - or, at least, upon the greenest mosses."
The Water Spirit was moved, for the love of change and the dream o
f Ambition can pierce even below the deepest beds of the stream; and the voice of Flattery is more persuasive than were the melodies of the Syren herself.
By degrees she allowed herself to participate in Rupert's desire for land; and, as she most tenderly loved him, his evident and growing ennui, his long silences, and his frequent yawns, made her anxious to meet his wishes, and fearful lest otherwise he should grow utterly wearied of her society. It was settled then that they should go to the land.
"But, oh my beloved," said Rupert the Fearnought, "I am but a poor and mortgaged Knight, and in my hall the winds whistle through dismantled casements, and over a wineless board. Shall I not go first to the shore, and with some of the baubles thou keepest all uselessly below, refit my castle among yonder vine-clad mountains, so that it shall be a worthy tenement for the Daughter of the Rhine? then I shall hasten back for thee, and we will be wedded with all the pomp that befits thy station."
The poor Water Spirit, having lived at the bottom of the Rhine all her life, was not so well read in the world as might have been expected from a singer of her celebrity. She yielded to the proposition of Rupert; and that very night the moon beheld the beautiful Lurline assisting Rupert to fill his boat (that lay still by the feet of the Lurlei Berg) with all the largest jewels in her treasury. Rupert filled and filled till he began to fear the boat would hold no more without sinking; and then, reluctantly ceasing, he seized the oars, and every now and then kissing his hand at Lurline with a melancholy expression of fondness, he rowed away to the town of St. Goar.
As soon as he had moored his boat in a little creek, overshadowed at that time by thick brambles, he sprang lightly on land, and seizing a hunting-horn that he wore round his neck, sounded a long blast. Five times was that blast echoed from the rock of the Lurlei Berg by the sympathising Dwarf who dwelt there, and who, wiser than Lurline, knew that her mortal lover had parted from her for ever. Rupert started in dismay, but soon recovered his native daring. "Come fiend, sprite or dragon," said he, "I will not give back the treasure I have won!" He looked defyingly to the stream, but no shape rose from its depths - the moonlight slept on the water - all was still, and without sign of life, as the echo died mournfully away. He looked wistfully to the land, and now crashing through the boughs came the armed tread of men - plumes waved - corslets glittered, and Rupert the Fearnought was surrounded by his marauding comrades. He stood with one foot on his boat, and pointed exultingly to the treasure. "Behold," he cried, to the old robber who had suggested the emprize, "I have redeemed my pledge, and plundered the coffer of the Spirits of the Deep!"
Then loud broke the robbers' voices over the still stream, and mailed hands grasped the heavy gems, and fierce eyes gloated on their splendour.
"And how didst' thou win the treasure? - with thy good sword, we'll warrant," cried the robbers.
"Nay," answered Rupert, "there is a weapon more dangerous to female, whether spirit or flesh, than the sword - a soft tongue and flattering words! - Away; take each what he can carry, - and away, I say, to our castle!"
Days and weeks rolled on but the Mortal returned not to the Maiden of the Waters; and night after night Lurline sat alone on the moonlight rock, and mourned for her love in such wild and melancholy strains, as now at times the fisherman starts to hear. The Dwarf of the Lurlei Berg sometimes put forth his shagged head, from the little door in his rock, and sought to solace her with wise aphorisms on human inconstancy; but the soft Lurline was not the more consoled by his wisdom, and still not the less she clung to the vain hope that Rupert the Flatterer would return.
And Rupert said to his comrades, as they quaffed the wine, and carved the meat at his castle board -
"I hear there is a maiden in the castle of Lorchausen, amidst the valleys, on the other side the Riine, fair to see, and rich to wed. She shall be the Bride of the Fearnought."
The robbers shouted at the proposal, and the next day, in their sheenest armour, they accompanied their beautiful chief in his wooing to the Lady of Lorchausen. But Rupert took care not to cross by the Lurlei Berg; for Fearnought as he was, he thought a defrauded dragon and a betrayed sprite were hard odds for a mortal chief. They arrived at the castle, and Rupert wooed with the same flattery and the same success as before. But as one female generally avenges the wrongs of another, so Rupert was caught by the arts he practised, and loved no less ardently than he was loved. The Chief of Lorchausen consented to the wedding, and the next week he promised to bring the bride and her dowry to the Fearnought's castle.
"But, ah! dearest Unna," said Rupert to his betrothed, "take heed as you pass the river that your bark steer not by the Lurlei Berg, for there lurks a dragon ever athirst for beauty and for gold; and he lashes with his tail the waters when such voyagers as thou pass, and whirls the vessel down into his cave below."
The beautiful Unna was terrified, and promised assent to so reasonable a request.
Rupert and his comrade returned home, and set the old castle in order for the coming of the bride.
The morning broke bright and clear - the birds sang out - the green vines waved merrily on the breeze - and the sunlight danced gaily upon the bosom of the Rhine. Rupert and his comrades stood ranged by the rocky land that borders St. Goar to welcome the bride. And now they heard the trumpets sounding far away, and looking down the river they saw the feudal streamers of Lorchausen glittering on the tide, as the sail from which they waved cut its way along the waters.
Then the Dwarf of the Lurlei Berg, startled by the noise of the trumpets, peeped peevishly out of his little door, and he saw the vessel on the wave, and Rupert on the land; and at once he knew, as he was a wise dwarf, what was to happen. "Ho, ho!" said he to himself, "not so fast, my young gallant: I have long wanted to marry, myself. What if I get your bride, and what if my good friend the Dragon comfort himself for your fraud by a snap at her dowry - Lurline my cousin shall be avenged!" So with that the dwarf slipped into the water, and running along the cavern, came up to the Dragon quite out of breath. The monster trailed himself hastily out of his shell. "And what now, Master Dwarf," quoth he, very angrily; "no thoroughfare here, I assure you!" "Pooh," said the Dwarf, "are you so stupid that you do not want to be avenged upon the insolent mortal who robbed your treasury, and deserted your mistress. Behold! he stands on the rocks of Goar, about to receive a bride, who sails along with a dowry, that shall swell thy exhausted coffers; behold! I say, I will marry the lady, and thou shalt have the dower."
Then the dragon was exceedingly pleased - "And how shall it be managed?" said he, rubbing his claws with delight.
"Lock thy door, Master Dragon," answered the Dwarf, "and go up to the Gewirre above thee, and lash the waters with thy tail, so that no boat may approach."
The Dragon promised to obey, and away went the Dwarf to Lurline. He found her sitting listlessly in her crystal chamber, her long hair drooping over her face, and her eyes bent on the rocky floor, heavy with tears.
"Arouse thee, cousin," said the Dwarf, "thy lover may be regained. Behold he sails along the Rhine with a bride he is about to marry; and if thou wilt ascend the surface of the water, and sing, with thy sweetest voice, the melodies he loves, doubtless he will not have the heart to resist thee, and thou shalt yet gain the Faithless from his bride."
Lurline started wildly from her seat; she followed the Dwarf up to the Lurlei Berg, and seated herself on a ledge in the rock. The Dwarf pointed out to her in the boat the glittering casque and nodding plumes of the Lord of Lorchausen. "Behold thy lover!" said he, "but the helmet hides his face. See he sits by the bride - he whispers her - he presses her hand. Sing now thy sweetest song, I beseech thee."
"But who are they on the opposite bank?" asked the Water Spirit.
"Thy lover's vassals only," answered the Dwarf
"Be cheered, child! " said the Chief of Lorchausen. "See how the day smiles on us - thy bridegroom waits thee yonder - even now I see him towering above his comrades."
"Oh! my father, my heart sinks with fear
!" murmured Unna; "and behold the frightful Lurlei Berg frowns upon us. Thou knowest how Rupert cautioned us to avoid it."
"And did we not, my child, because of that caution, embark yonder at the mouth of the Wisperbach? Even now our vessel glides towards the opposite shore, and nears not the mountain thy weak heart dreadest."
At that moment, a wild and most beautiful music broke tremulously along the waves; and they saw, sitting on the Lurlei Berg, a shape fairer than the shapes of the Children of Earth. "Hither," she sang, "hither, oh! gallant bark! Behold here is thy haven, and thy respite from the waters and the winds. Smooth is the surface of the tide around, and the rock hollows its bosom to receive thee. Hither, oh! nuptial band! The bridals are prepared. Here shall the betrothed gain the bridegroom, and the bridegroom welcome the bride!"
The boatmen paused, entranced with the air, the oars fell from their hands - the boat glided on towards the rock.
Rupert in dismay and terror heard the strain and recognized afar the silvery beauty of the Water Spirit. "Beware," he shouted - "beware - this way steer the vessel, nor let it near to the Lurlei Berg."
Then the Dwarf laughed within himself, and he took up the sound ere it fell, and five times across the water, louder far than the bridegroom's voice, was repeated "Near to the Lurlei Berg."
At this time by the Gewirre opposite, the Dragon writhed his vast folds, and fierce and perilous whirled the waters round.
"See, my child," said the Chief of Lorchausen, "how the whirlpool foams and eddies on the opposite shore - wisely hath Sir Rupert dismissed superstition in the presence of real danger; and yon fair figure is doubtless stationed by his command to direct us how to steer from the whirlpool."
The Dedalus Book of British Fantasy: 19th Century (European Literary Fantasy Anthologies) Page 8
