The Story of Lorelei
How narratives can give meaning to life. An example from my own life.
This is Lorelei, a 132 m high, steep slate rock on the bank of the famous Rhine river in Germany. On that place, the river is on his smallest and his deepest, causing a dangerous stream and of course, many accidents. There’s also a murmuring sound, because of a small waterfall and the heavy currents.
This unique geographical place gave rise to numerous stories. Let’s explore the most famous version, that of Heinrich Heine, a famous German poet ‘Die Lorelei’.
The story goes as follows :
Once, there was a time when nymphs were living in the Rhine river. But as people began to settle alongside the river, the nymphs were chased away. Only one nymph, Lorelei, could not say goodbye to the place and settled herself on top of the rock.
With her beautiful, mournful song, her beauty, and her long, golden hair, she managed to enchant the sailors, who lost attention to their ships and crashed on the rocks due to the strong current.
Lorelei was inspired by the Greek ‘Sirens’, creatures, who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and singing voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island.
Originally the first mention of Lorelei was in Clemens Brentano’s ballad Zu Bacharac am Rheine. In Brentano’s ballad, Lorelei (Or Lore Lay) was betrayed by her husband and consigned to the nunnery after being accused of bewitching other men. While accompanied by three knights, she asked permission to climb the Lorelei rock to view the Rhine from the Lorelei rock. Thinking she saw her betraying husband, she falls of the cliff. Her screaming was then immortalized as an echo in the rocks.
But as I said, Heine’s version became the most popular and it became an inspiration for literature, songs (see below) and even Belgian comics (Suske en Wiske’s “De snikkende sirene” (“Sobbing Siren”) and the Rode Ridder’s Lorelei, same author : Willy Vandersteen)
The song Lorelei is one of my favourite songs from one of my favourite rock bands. Now you’re known with the story, take a listen!
The refrain:
Lorelei
My ship has passed you by
And though you promised me to show the way
You led me astray
You were my lorelei
What kind of fool was I
Cause I believed in every word you said
And now I wonder why
Lorelei
I had my Lorelei too.
I think this is a beautiful example of how myths and stories can be extremely useful. Not long ago, I had problems with the irrationality of (religious) stories. I threw everything that didn’t belong to my objective world as nonsense. I thought that everything I couldn’t explain in a few simple words must be ‘untrue’. Now I learned that stories have dealt and are still dealing with existential life problems for ages or sometimes centuries along.
Stories gave meaning to life. It penetrates the human psyche in a way rationality never (could) do. The scientific world shows us what the world is. The narrative world can show us how to act in it. Both worlds have the goal to explain the world but in a different way.
Do you have a story that feels meaningful to you?
Thanks for reading!
If there are any questions, remarks, … I shall gladly listen, for me there is no failure, only feedback.
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