Imaginative as Brentano was, he rarely rose to such heights as in this
and the next, "MAerchen vom Murmelthier,"[94] in which Frau Lureley
continues her great work of love and kindness. She rights all wrongs,
rewards the just, corrects the unjust, and leads a most remarkable
life whether among the poor on land or in her element in the water.
All of which is poles removed from Loeben's saga, though he knew these
_MAerchen_,[95] for they were written when Brentano was his intimate
friend.
As to the importance of Loeben's saga, Wilhelm Hertz says: "Fast alle
jUengeren Dichter knUepfen an seinen Erfindungen an, so besonders die
zahlreichen musikdramatischen Bearbeitungen."[96] It is extremely
doubtful that this statement is correct. It is plain that many of the
lyric writers leaned on Schreiber, and the librettists could have done
the same; or they could have derived their initial suggestion in more
attractive form than that offered by Loeben. It seems, however, that
Geibel[97] knew Loeben's saga. Though his individual poems on the
Lorelei betray the influence of Heine, and though his drama resembles
Brentano's ballad in mood and in unimportant details, it contains the
same proper names of persons and places that are found in Loeben.
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