_Sagen_, indeed from no place so convenient as Schreiber. Heine knew
Schreiber's _Handbuch_[71] in 1823.

The situation, then, is as follows: Heine had to have a source or
sources, There are three candidates for Heine honors; Brentano,
Loeben, Schreiber. Brentano has a number of supporters, though the
evidence, external and internal, is wholly lacking. It would seem that
lack of attention to chronology has misled investigators. Brentano's
ballad can now be read in many places, but between about 1815 and 1823
it was safely concealed in the pages of an unread and unknown novel.
Loeben[72] has many supporters, though the external evidence, except
for the fact that Heine corresponded with Brockhaus, is wholly
lacking, and the internal weakens on careful study. It would seem that
the striking similarity in form has misled investigators. Schreiber
has only one supporter, despite the fact that the evidence, external
and internal, is as strong as it can be without Heine's ever having
made some such remark as the following: "Yes, in 1823 I knew _only_
Schreiber's saga and borrowed from it." But Heine never made any such
statement. It would seem that the strong assertions of so many
investigators in favor of Brentano and Loeben have made careful study
of the matter appear not worth while; the problem was apparently
solved. And since Heine never committed himself in this connection,
the matter will, in all probability, remain forever conjectural. This
much, however, is irrefutable: even if Heine knew in 1823 the five
_Loreleidichtungen_, that had then been written, those by Brentano,
Niklas Vogt, Eichendorff, Schreiber, and Loeben, and if he borrowed
what he needed from all of them, he borrowed more from Schreiber[73]
than from the other four combined.[74]