"The German for mouse is maus, and probably it is in this instance corrupted from mauth; for nothing could have made the tower and its owners more odious than the collection of duties from voyagers on the river. There is a sad story connected with the Brömserberg Castle, which we saw above. Brömser of Rüdesheim went to Palestine with the crusaders, and, while there, distinguished himself by slaying a dragon which made itself very annoying to the Christian army. He was immediately after captured by the Saracen forces, and reduced to slavery. While in this condition, he made a solemn vow, that if he were ever permitted to return to his castle again, he would give his only daughter to the church. Improving an opportunity to kill his guard, he succeeded in reaching his home, where he was met by his daughter, a lovely young woman, who was betrothed to a young knight. Her father told her of the vow he had taken. Tearfully she entreated him to change his purpose; but his pledge to the church could not be set aside. Brömser threatened her with his curse if she refused to obey. Life had no charms apart from the young knight, and she determined to die. In the midst of a violent storm, she threw herself from the castle battlements into the river, and her corpse was found the next day, by a fisherman, near the Mouse Tower. The boatmen and peasants say, to this day, that they sometimes see the pale form of Gisela hovering above the castle, mingling her wails with the moanings of the storm."
"That's a very pretty story, and I suppose young ladies in that age were like those of the present," added Paul. "Perhaps more so, for now they don't throw themselves from walls into a damp river for such a cause."
"There's another castle!" exclaimed Grace, pointing to the left.
"That is Rheinstein, a castle which has been restored, and is the summer residence of a Prussian prince. Below the castle, where the road runs between the rock and the river, tolls were levied upon Jews who passed that way. And it is even said that the collectors had little dogs trained to know a Jew from a Christian, and to seize him with their teeth."
Castle-crowned heights succeeded each other in rapid succession; and in this part of the river they are so thick, that our students had to keep their eyes wide open in order to see them all. Rocky steeps rose from the verge of the water; and wherever there was any soil, or any earth could find a resting-place, the spot was made into a vineyard. Sometimes the vines have to be planted in baskets, while all the steep hillsides are terraced to the height of a thousand feet above the river. To reach these plats of ground, the peasants, male and female, must climb the steeps, and everything used there must be carried up on the shoulders. The vine-dressers are a very industrious people, and nothing but the most determined perseverance could induce them to cultivate these lofty artificial beds.
The towns on the banks of the Rhine are picturesque, and one never tires of looking at them. Indeed, half a dozen voyages down the Rhine no more than enable the tourist to see all its wonders and all its beauties.
"Stahlech Castle," said Dr. Winstock, pointing to a ruin on the left. "It was the palace of the Elector Palatine. Between the castle and the hill are the remains of St. Werner's Chapel. In the middle ages, it is said that the Jews at Oberwesel, farther down the river, crucified a Christian named Werner, and threw the body into the stream. Instead of descending with the current, it was carried by a supernatural agency up the river, from which it was taken at Bacharach, the town we are approaching, interred, and afterwards canonized. The chapel was built over the grave. Doubtless the story was invented to afford a pretext to rob and persecute the Hebrews, though in former ages such excuses seem to have been hardly needed."
"There is another castle in the river," said Grace, as the boat left Bacharach. "It is an odd-looking building."
"That is the Pfalz, and the town on the right is Caub. A toll was paid here by all vessels navigating the river. The Duke of Nassau inherited the right to levy this tax, and exercised the right to collect it, until three or four years ago. The Pfalz was his toll-house. In the middle ages, thirty-two tolls were levied at the different stations on the river. Schönberg Castle is on the left. What does the word mean?"
"Beautiful hill," replied Grace.