Legends of the Rhine

by Wilhelm Ruland

"Last year I made the journey between Mainz and Bonn on one of our splendid Rhine steamers. Our vessel glided along like a great water-bird. On the shore rose mountains, castles, and ruins, and over all the sun shined brightly from a blue August sky. It was twelve years since I had visited the scenes of my youth, and every Rhinelander will understand with what pleasure I saw again those smiling landscapes arrayed in their summer beauty. Wandering back to my deckchair, I soon became absorbed in the ever-changing panorama. "

Genres: Mythology, History, Fairy Tales, Folklore

282 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1905

About the author

1869-1927

Reviews

[Jaide · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, vintage collection of stories from around the Rhine (mostly German, but one or two were French or Dutch).

The book includes classic Germanic tales of the lorelei, the Nibelungenlied, Charlemagne, the Crusades, dragons, giants, knights and Christian miracles.

I think the most memorable ones were “The Blind Archer” (a robber chief and his band get justice dealt to them by an archer they blinded), and “Richmondis of Aducht” (a noble lady gets accidentally buried alive during a plague).

There is some melodrama, of course, but that’s part of the fun! Though I do think crusading knights should stop promising God “I’ll have my daughter become a nun if you rescue me from this Turkish prison”. Because then when you finally make it home, the poor girl inevitably throws herself from the top of a tower in despair. (Odd how common that plot was!)

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid 3.5. It was a fun little book to read, partly because my copy is old and tiny and has lots of little typos that sometimes made reading it an adventure. It was more influenced by Christianity than I was expecting; I thought it would be fairy tales, when the stories were more King Arthur-ish - knights and ladies with some (questionable) history and miraculous things thrown in. Some of the stories were only a couple of paragraphs, more parables or fables than legends, but it was fun. I would read out bits to my husband from time to time.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not at all familiar with many Germanic folktales/legends (fairy tales, yes of course), but these, not so much. The podcast The Folklore Project read through the entire book story by story, one per episode, but he did release the first half of the book as an entire episode. So if you are curious, it is definitely worth checking out.

[Hilde Helseth]

It says 11th ed in the book but no year

[Lillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's interesting to read these more regional stories from Germany, though I see why the fairy tales get adapted instead of these semi historical tales of folk heroes and local buildings

[A.R. Jarvis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book of folk legends and folk lore from the Rhine region of Germany. They are generally about folk legends or supernatural beings interacting with normal people--like sirens on the Rhine, or why a certain knight has a certain coat-of-arms.

They are fairly easy to read, although I didn't care for the tone of the prose (can't quite put my finger on why). As for audience, the language and story style would be appropriate for children, but some of the stories are downright cruel (burning starving poor people alive, for example), so I'd recommend at least giving it a read-through before sharing it with any young'uns.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice collection of tales from various parts along the Rhine. Engaging.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book.

[Helle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pull of the Rhineland--in short, Germanic lands, is uncanny, and I enjoy reading about the Medieval period of those lands. An enjoyable reminder perhaps.

[Pam]

I happened across this book at my grandmother's house. The one I have is a 10th edition, published in 1924. Found it interesting.