Codex Annales Fuldenses, which goes back to the year 858, and was first applied to the region around the modern Kempten near Bingen. "Lei" means a rock; "Loreley" means then "Elbfels." And what Brentano and his followers have done is to apply the name of a place to a person.

In Urania: Taschenbuch auf das Jahr 1821, Graf von Loebcn published his "Loreley: Eine Sage vom Rhein." The following ballad introduces the saga in prose. Heine's ballad is set opposite for the sake of comparison.[32]

  Da wo der Mondschein blitzet Ich weiss nicht, was soll es bedeuten
  Um's höchste Felsgestein, Dass ich so traurig bin;
  Das Zauberfräulein sitzet Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten,
  Und schauet auf den Rhein. Das kommt mir nicht aus dem Sinn.

  Es schauet herüber, hinüber, Die Luft ist kühl und es dunkelt,
  Es schauet hinab, hinauf, Und ruhig fliesst der Rhein;
  Die Schifflein ziehn vorüber, Der Gipfel des Berges funkelt
  Lieb' Knabe, sieh nicht auf! Im Abendsonnenschein.

  Sie singt dir hold zum Ohre, Die schönste Jungfrau sitzet
  Sie blickt dich thöricht an, Dort oben wunderbar,
  Sie ist die schöne Lore, Ihr goldenes Geschmeide blitzet,
  Sie hat dir's angethan. Sie kämmt ihr goldenes Haar.

  Sie schaut wohl nach dem Rheine, Sie kämmt es mit goldenem Kamme,
  Als schaute sie nach dir, Und singt ein Lied dabei;
  Glaub's nicht, dass sie dich meine, Das hat eine wundersame
  Sich nicht, horch nicht nach ihr! Gewaltige Melodei.

  So blickt sie wohl nach allen Den Schiffer im kleinen Schiffe
  Mit ihrer Augen Glanz, Ergreift es mit wildem Weh;
  Lässt her die Locken wallen Er schaut nicht die Felsenriffe,
  Im wilden goldnen Tanz. Er schaut nur hinauf in die Höh'.

  Doch wogt in ihrem Blicke Ich glaube, die Wellen verschlingen
  Nur blauer Wellen Spiel, Am Ende Schiffer und Kahn;
  Drum scheu die Wassertücke, Und das hat mit ihrem Singen
  Denn Flut bleibt falsch und kühl! Die Lorelei gethan.

The following saga then relates how an old hunter sings this song to a young man in a boat on the Rhine, warning him against the allurements of the Lorelei on the rock above. The hunter's good intentions are fruitless, the young man is drowned.

In the autumn of 1823, Heine wrote, while at Luneburg, his "Die Lorelei." It was first published[33] in the Gesellschafter, March 26, 1824. Commentators refer to the verse, "Ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten," as a bit of fiction, adding that it is not a title of olden times, but one invented by Brentano about 1800. The statement is true but misleading, for we naturally infer that Heine derived his initial inspiration from Brentano's ballad. Concerning this matter there are three points of view: Some editors and historians point out Brentano's priority and list his successors without committing[34] themselves as to intervening influence. This has only bibliographical value and for our purpose may be omitted. Some trace Heine's ballad direct to Brentano, some direct to Loeben. Which of these two points of view has the more argument in its favor and can there be still a third?

In the first place, Heine never knew Brentano personally, and never mentions him in his letters previous to 1824, nor in his letters[35] that have thus far been published after 1824. Godwi was repudiated soon after its publicatipn by Brentano himself, who said[36] there was only one good thing about it, the title, for, after people had said "Godwi," they could just keep on talking and say, "Godwi, dumm." On its account, Caroline called him Demens Brentano, while Dorothea dubbed him "Angebrenntano." The novel became a rare and unread book until Anselm Ruest brought out a new edition[37] with a critical and appreciative introduction in 1906. Diel and Kreiten say "es ging fast spurlos vorüber." It was not included in his Gesammelte Schriften (1852-55), though the ballad[38] was. Heine does not mention it in his Romantische Schule, which was, however, written ten years after he had finished his "Die Lorelei." And as to the contents of Brentano's ballad, there is precious little in it that resembles Heine's ballad, aside from the name of the heroine, and even here the similarity is far from striking.

And yet, despite all this, commentators continue to say that Heine drew the initial inspiration for his "Lorelei" from Brentano. They may be right, but no one of them has thus far produced any tenable argument, to say nothing of positive proof. The most recent supporter of Brentano's claim is Eduard Thorn[39] (1913), who reasons as follows:

Heine knew Brentano's works in 1824, for in that year he borrowed Wunderhorn and Trösteinsamkeit from the library at Göttingen. These have, however, nothing to do with Brentano's ballad, and it is one year too late for Heine's ballad. All of Thorn's references to Heine's Romantische Schule, wherein Godwi, incidentally, is not mentioned, though other works are, collapse, for this was written ten years too late. And then, to quote Thorn: "Loeben's Gedicht lieferte das direkte Vorbild für Heine." He offers no proof except the statements of Strodtmann, Hessel, and Elster to this effect.

And again: "Der Name Lorelay findet sich bei Loeben nicht als Eigenname, wenn er auch das Gedicht, 'Der Lurleifels' überschreibt." But the name Loreley does occur[40] twice on the same page on which the last strophe of the ballad is published in Urania, and here the ballad is not entitled "Der Lurleifels," but simply "Loreley." Now, even granting that Loeben entitled his ballad one way in the MS and Brockhaus published it in another way in Urania, it is wholly improbable that Heine saw Loeben's MS previous to 1823.

And then, after contending that Brentano's Rheinmärchen,[41] which, though written before 1823, were not published until 1846, must have given Heine the hair-combing motif, Thorn says: "Also kann nur Brentano das Vorbild geliefert haben." This cannot be correct. What is, on the contrary, at least possible is that Heine influenced Brentano.[42] The Rheinmärchen were finished, in first form, in 1816. And Guido Görres, to whom Brentano willed them, and who first published them, tells us how Brentano carried them around with him in his satchel and changed them and polished them as opportunity was offered and inspiration came. It is therefore reasonable to believe that Heine helped Brentano to metamorphose his Lorelei of the ballad, where she is wholly human, into the superhuman Lorelei of the Rheinmärchen where she does, as a matter of fact, comb her hair with a golden comb.[43]

And now as to Loeben: Did Heine know and borrow from his ballad? Aside from the few who do not commit themselves, and those who trace Heine's poem direct to Brentano, and Oscar F. Walzel to be referred to later, all commentators, so far as I have looked into the matter, say that he did. Adolf Strodtmann said[44] it first (1868), in the following words: "Es leidet wohl keinen Zweifel, dass Heine dies Loeben'sche Ballade gekannt und bei Abfassung seiner Lorelei-Ballade benutzt hat." But he produces no proof except similarity of form and content. Of the others who have followed his lead, ten, for particular reasons, should be authorities: Franz Muncker,[45] Karl Hessel,[46] Karl Goedeke,[47] Wilhelm Scherer,[48] Georg Mücke,[49] Wilhelm Hertz,[50] Ernst Elster,[51] Georg Brandes,[52] Heinrich Spiess,[53] and Herrn. Anders Krüger.[54]