CHAPTER X. THE LEGEND OF ROLAND.--THE ADVENTURES OF NYMPHALIN ON THEISLAND OF NONNEWERTH.--HER SONG.--THE DECAY OF THE FAIRY-FAITH INENGLAND.
ON the shore opposite the Drachenfels stand the Ruins ofRolandseck,--they are the shattered crown of a lofty and perpendicularmountain, consecrated to the memory of the brave Roland; below, thetrees of an island to which the lady of Roland retired, rise thick andverdant from the smooth tide.
Nothing can exceed the eloquent and wild grandeur of the whole scene.That spot is the pride and beauty of the Rhine.
The legend that consecrates the tower and the island is briefly told; itbelongs to a class so common to the Romaunts of Germany. Roland goes tothe wars. A false report of his death reaches his betrothed. She retiresto the convent in the isle of Nonnewerth, and takes the irrevocableveil. Roland returns home, flushed with glory and hope, to find thatthe very fidelity of his affianced had placed an eternal barrier betweenthem. He built the castle that bears his name, and which overlooks themonastery, and dwelt there till his death,--happy in the power at leastto gaze, even to the last, upon those walls which held the treasure hehad lost.
The willows droop in mournful luxuriance along the island, and harmonizewith the memory that, through the desert of a thousand years, love stillkeeps green and fresh. Nor hath it permitted even those additions offiction which, like mosses, gather by time over the truth that theyadorn, yet adorning conceal, to mar the simple tenderness of the legend.
All was still in the island of Nonnewerth; the lights shone through thetrees from the house that contained our travellers. On one smooth spotwhere the islet shelves into the Rhine met the wandering fairies.
"Oh, Pipalee! how beautiful!" cried Nymphalin, as she stood enrapturedby the wave, a star-beam shining on her, with her yellow hair "dancingits ringlets in the whistling wind." "For the first time since ourdeparture I do not miss the green fields of England."
"Hist!" said Pipalee, under her breath; "I hear fairy steps,--they mustbe the steps of strangers."
"Let us retreat into this thicket of weeds," said Nymphalin, somewhatalarmed; "the good lord treasurer is already asleep there." They whiskedinto what to them was a forest, for the reeds were two feet high, andthere sure enough they found the lord treasurer stretched beneath abulrush, with his pipe beside him, for since he had been in Germany hehad taken to smoking; and indeed wild thyme, properly dried, makes verygood tobacco for a fairy. They also found Nip and Trip sitting veryclose together, Nip playing with her hair, which was exceedinglybeautiful.
"What do you do here?" said Pipalee, shortly; for she was rather an oldmaid, and did not like fairies to be too close to each other.
"Watching my lord's slumber," said Nip.
"Pshaw!" said Pipalee.
"Nay," quoth Trip, blushing like a sea-shell; "there is no harm in_that_, I'm sure."
"Hush!" said the queen, peeping through the reeds.
And now forth from the green bosom of the earth came a tiny train;slowly, two by two, hand in hand, they swept from a small aperture,shadowed with fragrant herbs, and formed themselves into a ring: thencame other fairies, laden with dainties, and presently two beautifulwhite mushrooms sprang up, on which the viands were placed, and lo,there was a banquet! Oh, how merry they were! what gentle peals oflaughter, loud as a virgin's sigh! what jests! what songs! Happy race!if mortals could see you as often as I do, in the soft nights of summer,they would never be at a loss for entertainment. But as our Englishfairies looked on, they saw that these foreign elves were of a differentrace from themselves: they were taller and less handsome, their hair wasdarker, they wore mustaches, and had something of a fiercer air. PoorNymphalin was a little frightened; but presently soft music was heardfloating along, something like the sound we suddenly hear of a stillnight when a light breeze steals through rushes, or wakes a ripple insome shallow brook dancing over pebbles. And lo, from the aperture ofthe earth came forth a fay, superbly dressed, and of a noble presence.The queen started back, Pipalee rubbed her eyes, Trip looked overPipalee's shoulder, and Nip, pinching her arm, cried out amazed, "By thelast new star, that is Prince von Fayzenheim!"
Poor Nymphalin gazed again, and her little heart beat under herbee's-wing bodice as if it would break. The prince had a melancholy air,and he sat apart from the banquet, gazing abstractedly on the Rhine.
"Ah!" whispered Nymphalin to herself, "does he think of me?"
Presently the prince drew forth a little flute hollowed from a smallreed, and began to play a mournful air. Nymphalin listened with delight;it was one he had learned in her dominions.
When the air was over, the prince rose, and approaching the banqueters,despatched them on different errands; one to visit the dwarf of theDrachenfels, another to look after the grave of Musaeus, and a wholedetachment to puzzle the students of Heidelberg. A few launchedthemselves upon willow leaves on the Rhine to cruise about in thestarlight, and an other band set out a hunting after the gray-leggedmoth. The prince was left alone; and now Nymphalin, seeing the coastclear, wrapped herself up in a cloak made out of a withered leaf; andonly letting her eyes glow out from the hood, she glided from the reeds,and the prince turning round, saw a dark fairy figure by his side. Hedrew back, a little startled, and placed his hand on his sword, whenNymphalin circling round him, sang the following words:--
The Pilgrims of the Rhine Page 34