A series of pictures and factoids for Create's NaJoPoMo Challenge.

Continuing our train or boat tour of the Rhine¹, we come to the Lorelei Rock. According to completely spurious legend, there used to be a siren hanging around this rock, heckling boatmen. Her singing was so distracting – think Lady Gaga – that it caused boating accidents.

Heinrich Heine wrote a famous poem about it, that goes, in part,

…die Luft is kühl, und es dunkelt,

Und ruhig fliesst der Rhein…

A Canadian professor wrote a novel in 1947, called Sarah Binks. Sarah's a great Heine scholar. Her 'translation' of those lines goes,

The Loft is cool, and it darkles

And ruefully floweth The Clean…

You can read the rest of it here. Great translator, Sarah. According to Wiki, some people think Sarah was a real person. I suppose those are Wikipedia readers, too.

Most Germans will not quote Sarah Binks at you. But in the old days, they'd be likely to burst into song about the supernatural traffic hazard. They are remarkably cheerful about this drowning incident. Such is folklore.

If you note the bend in the river, you can probably figure out why the Lorelei got blamed for a lot of pilot error. Mark Twain probably laughed. After all, he was used to piloting on the Mississippi. Which, I would like to point out, is a somewhat larger river.

My first day in Bonn, I rushed to the waterfront, to see the legendary Rhein. I admit to disappointment. I muttered something about its resemblance in size to the Allegheny. Next, I wondered why they only had three bridges. (And a slow ferry.) Kind of paltry for a national capital, I thought.

Still and all, it's a romantic river. After all, I can't think of a single song about the Allegheny River. Or the Monongahela. (It would have to be in Lenape². What rhymes with Monongahela?) There is a ridiculous one about the Ohio, though. Not as cool as the Lorelei song.

Sing and enjoy! It's not the size of the river that matters. It's the size of the imagination.