Legends
Several legends surround the Drachenfels, most famous of which is the one which recounts that Siegfried – the hero of the Nibelungenlied – killed the dragon Fafnir, who lived in a cave in the mountain, then bathed in its blood to become invulnerable. Hence, the mountain is named the "Dragon's Rock". Drachenfels.
About a third of the way up is the Nibelungenhalle, built in 1913, a gallery of paintings by the symbolist painter Hermann Hendrich depicting scenes from Richard Wagner's operas.
Another legend tells of prisoners being sacrificed to a dragon. One of these was a Christian virgin, who, in her fear, held up a little cross. In fear of this holy symbol, the dragon then jumped into the Rhine and was never heard from again.
A third, less pious story has it the dragon one day attacked a boat laden with gunpowder, causing an explosion which destroyed the ship and killed the dragon.
Read more about this topic: Drachenfels (Siebengebirge)
Famous quotes containing the word legends:
“a child’s
Forgotten mornings when he walked with his mother
Through the parables
Of sunlight
And the legends of the green chapels
And the twice-told fields of infancy”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“Therefore our legends always come around to seeming legendary,
A path decorated with our comings and goings. Or so I’ve been told.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“Farm boys wild to couple
With anything with soft-wooded trees
With mounds of earthmounds
Of pine straw will keep themselves off
Animals by legends of their own:”
—James Dickey (b. 1923)