The promontory at the back of Neumagen is divided into two parts by the little river Drohn. It is supposed by many that it was on the bank of this little stream that the celebrated Palace of the Thirty Towers stood. This palace, built by the Archbishop Nicetius of Trèves, is supposed to have been most beautiful, and formed entirely of marble, with pleasure-grounds sloping to the stream and river. The description given of these gardens by the poet, Venantius Fortunatus, reads more like an Eastern account of those gardens of Paradise sometimes for a moment unveiled to the wanderer in the Arabian desert. Bishofstein (lower down the stream) also claims the honour of being on the site of the Palace of the Thirty Towers, but it does not in any way answer the description. Whether the banks of the Drohn were the site of this marble palace or not, the beauty of the situation certainly gives it a claim to have been so, and the Archbishops did possess a country-house near Neumagen.
A few miles below Trèves we pass Pfalzel, which lies on the left bank; this little town is interesting, as it is said to be the site of the beautiful legend of Genoveva, handed down to us in so many different versions.
LEGEND OF GENOVEVA.
The Pfalz-graf Siegfried was married to a lovely and virtuous lady, named Genoveva, and they lived together in great happiness and content, until a wicked courtier, named Golo, whose attentions the lady had repulsed, plotted how he might ruin her in her lord’s esteem.
To this end he poisoned the Pfalz-graf’s mind against his virtuous wife, and so, deeming her guilty of crimes she never even imagined, her lord drove Genoveva from his castle, that so she might be slain of wild beasts or die of hunger.
Genoveva, as she passed out from the castle gates, threw her wedding-ring into the water, that so the crime of her lord might be lessened, as he was thus released from the marriage-tie.
Time passed on, and Siegfried, being on a hunting excursion, wished for food and rest; he therefore ordered a tent to be pitched on the banks of a stream. No sooner was this done than two fishermen arrived with a great fish, which they presented to the Pfalz-graf; the fish being opened, a ring was found, which the Pfalz-graf no sooner saw than he perceived it was that of his dead wife.
Returning home he was much troubled at this circumstance, and falling asleep he dreamt that he saw a dragon persecuting Genoveva, who still was dearer to him than all the world beside. He related this dream to Golo, who pacified him for a time: but again he dreamt, and in his dream he hunted a pure white hind, following, and persecuting it remorselessly; awaking, he felt that the hind was Genoveva, and he was indeed a cruel huntsman, who had chased a spotless deer to death.
He ordered everything to be prepared for the chase,—why, he knew not, but felt the dream must be followed out; Golo was seized with agony when the Pfalz-graf set forth, and secretly followed his master’s steps.