The one episode in Loeben not found in any of Schreiber's _Rheinsagen_
is the story of the castaway ring miraculously restored from the
stomach of the fish. This Loeben could have taken from "Magelone" by
Tieck, or "Polykrates" by Schiller, both of whom he revered as men and
with whose works he was thoroughly familiar. But there is nothing in
Loeben that Heine could not have derived in more inspiring form from
Schreiber; and Schreiber contains essentials not in Loeben at all.
Indeed, a general study of Schreiber's manuals leads one to believe
that the influence of them, as a whole, on Heine would be a most
grateful theme: there is not one Germanic legend referred to in Heine
that is not contained in Schreiber. And as a prose writer, Heine's
fame rests largely on his travel pictures.[90]

The points of similarity between Loeben's ballad and saga and the
ballads and Märchen of Brentano, all of which Loeben knew in 1821, are
wholly negligible. It remains,[91] therefore, simply to point out some
of the peculiarities of Brentano's "Loreley" as protrayed in the
_Rheinmärchen_--peculiarities that are interesting in themselves and
that may have played a part in the development of the legend since
1846.

In "Das Märchen von dem Rhein und dem Müller Radlauf,"[92] Loreley is
portrayed in a sevenfold capacity, as it were: seven archways lead to
seven doors that open onto seven stairways that lead to a large hall
in which Frau Lureley sits on a sevenfold throne with seven crowns
upon her head and her seven daughters around her. This makes
interesting reading for children, but Brentano did not lose sight of
adults, including those who like to speculate as to the origin of the
legend. He says: "Sie [Lorelei] ist eine Tochter der Phantasie,