The Emperor Charlemagne was surrounded by a circle of proud knights,
the flower of whom was Count Roland of Angers, nephew of the King of
the Franks. The name of no knight was so famous in battle and in
tournaments as his. Helpless innocency adored him, his friends
admired, and his enemies esteemed him. His chivalrous spirit had no
love for the luxuries of life, and scorning to remain inactive at the
emperor's court, he went to his imperial uncle, begging leave to go
and travel in those countries of the mighty kingdom of the Franks,
which up to that time were unknown to him. In his youthful fervour he
longed for adventures and dangers. The emperor was much grieved to
part with the brave knight, however, he willingly complied with his
request.
One day early in the morning the gallant hero left his uncle's palace
near the Seine, and rode towards the Vosges Mountains, accompanied by
his faithful squire. The first object of his journey was castle
Niedeck near Haslach, and from there he visited Attic, Duke of Alsace.
He continued his travels, and one evening as he was riding through
the mountains, the glittering waters of the Rhine, washing both sides
of the plain, greeted him. The river in that part of the country
offered him few charms in its savage wildness, but he knew that the
scenery would soon change. He moved on down the Rhine to where a
gigantic mountain shuts the rushing current into a narrow space. Its
foot stands chained in the floods, which only in places retire a
little, thus leaving the poor folk a narrow stretch of land.
On the heights there were proud castles, telling the wanderer below of
the fame of their illustrious races. Thus Roland made many a long
journey on his adventurous course down the Rhine. He passed many a
place rich in old memories: the Lorelei Rock, where the water nymph
sang at night: the cheerful little spot where St. Goar lived and
worked at the time of Childebert, the Merovingian, (that wonderful
saint who once spread a fog over his imperial uncle, compelling him to
pass the night in the open air, because his Majesty, while journeying
from Ingelheim to Coblenz had neglected to bend his knee in his
chapel) and the green meadows near Andernach, where Genovefa, wife of
Palatine Count Siegfried lived. And now Roland neared the place where
the stream reaches the end of the Rhine Valley, and where the seven
giants are to be seen, the summit of one of which is crowned with a
castle; there they stand like the seven knights who in later times
stood weeping round the holy remains of the German emperor.
A wooded island lay in the deep-blue waters. The setting sun threw a
golden light over the hills. On the sides of the mountains there were
numberless vineyards, to the left, hedges of beeches ascending to the
heights of the rugged summits, to the right, the murmur of the
rippling waters, and above, visible among the legendary rocks where
once a terrible beast lived, the pinnacles of a knight's castle, and
over all, the heavens clothed with a garment of silver stars.
The knight paused in silence; his glance rested admiringly on the
beautiful picture. His steed pawed the ground uneasily with his
bronze-shod hoofs, and his faithful squire looked anxiously at the
darkening sky. He reminded his master modestly that it was time to
seek shelter for the night.
"I should like to beg for it up there," said Roland dreamingly, an
inexplicable feeling of sweet sadness coming over him for the first
time. He bade his squire ask the boatman who was putting out his
little bark to cross the river, what was the name of the castle? The
castle was the Drachenburg, where Count Heribert sojourned sometimes.
Thus ran the answer which pleased Roland very much. He had been
charged with many greetings and messages to the old count at the
Drachenburg from his friends living near the upper Rhine. Roland now
hesitated no longer, and soon a boat was ploughing the dark waves.