Impossible also for this reason: Karl Simrock,
Heine's intimate friend, included in his _Rheinsagen_ (1836, 1837,
1841)[60] the ballads on the Lorelei by Brentano, Eichendorff, Heine,
and himself. Why did he exclude the one by Loeben? He made an ardent
appeal in his preface to his colleagues to inform him of any other
ballads that had been written on these themes. The question must be
referred to those who like to skate on flabby ice in things literary.
The most plausible theory in regard to the source of Heine's ballad is
the one proposed by Oscar F. Walzel, who says: "Heine hat den Stoff
wahrscheinlich aus dem ihm wohlbekannten _Handbuch fUer Reisende am
Rhein_ von Aloys Schreiber Uebernommen."[61] The only proof that Walzel
gives that Heine knew Schreiber's manual is a reference[62] to it in
_Lutetia_. But this was written in 1843, and proves nothing as to
1823. His contention, however, that Heine borrowed from Schreiber[63]
has everything in its favor, from the point of view of both external
and internal evidence and deserves, therefore, detailed elaboration.
As to internal evidence, there is only one slight difference between
Heine's ballad and Schreiber's saga: where Heine's Lorelei combs her
hair with a golden comb and has golden jewelry, Schreiber's "bindet
einen Kranz fUer ihre goldenen Locken" and "hat eine Schnur von
Bernstein in der Hand.
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