But, to judge from what has been said of his prose works
in general, both are quite typical.
The plot so far as the action[20] is concerned is as follows: Otto
owes the victory he won at a tournament in NUernberg largely to the
beauty and agility of his great white horse Bellerophon. Siegenot von
der Aue had seen him and his horse perform and determined to obtain
Bellerophon, if possible, for, owing to a curse pronounced on his
family by a remote ancestor, Siegenot must either win at the next
tournament or become a monk, which he does not wish to do. Both he and
Otto love Felicitas, the niece of Graf Berthald. Siegenot secures
Bellerophon, is victorious at the tournament, though seriously
wounded, and is nursed back to health by Otto and Felicitas. It is
Otto, however, who wins Felicitas through his chivalric treatment of
his rival. The two are married, while Siegenot rides away on the great
white horse Bellerophon.
It is such creations that make us turn away from Loeben. Alas for
German romanticism if this story were wholly typical of it! It
contains the traditional conceits of the orthodox romanticists, but
applied in such a sweet, lovely, pretty fashion! One woman is placed
between two men, for in that way Loeben could best bring out his
philosophy of friendship.
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