At a time when a taste for the beauties of German literature is becoming
general throughout this country, we conceive that a few specimens of her
traditions may not be unacceptable to the reader. Few subjects are more
interesting than the popular legends of a country, which are the source
from whence many of our later novelists draw several of their writings:
they offer a field for reflection to the contemplative observer of man;
and those of Germany, although some are disfigured with a little too
much absurdity in their details, are confessedly a mine of wealth to the
lover of research in such matters. Here Schiller first drew the sources
of his inspiration; here Goethe first electrified mankind with his
writings--works which will render both immortal; it is, indeed, a mine
which has been and will bear much working.
We have chosen the following tradition, both on account of the merit it
possesses, and its being the unquestionable origin of Washington
Irving's inimitable _Rip Von Winkle_. Indeed, the similarity of the
story is strikingly obvious. We believe there are several legends on
this subject, which, with the present, probably all refer to the Emperor
Frederic Barbarossa, whose adventures form the source of many a story
among the Germans.
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