[41] For the entire story of the composition and publication of the
_Rheinmärchen_, see _Die Märchen von Clemens Brentano_,
edited by Guido Görres. 2 vols. in 1, Stuttgart, 1879 (2d ed.)
This edition contains the preface to the original edition of 1840,
pp. i-1.

[42] Thorn, who drew on M.R. Hewelcke's _Die Loreleisage_,
Paderborn, 1908, makes (p. 90) this suggestion. It is impossible
for the writer to see how Thorn can be so positive in regard to
Brentano's influence on Heine. And one's faith is shaken by this
sentence on the same page: "Brentano veröffentlichte sein
_Radlauf-Märchen_ erst 1827, Heine 'Die Lorelei' schon 1826."
Both of these dates are incorrect. Guido Görres, who must be
considered a final authority on this matter, says that, though
Brentano tried to publish his _Märchen_ as early as 1816,
none of them were published until 1846, except extracts from "Das
Myrtenfräulein," and a version of "Gockel," neither of which bears
directly on the Lorelei-matter.

[43] Of Görres' second edition, I, 250: "Nachdem Murmelthier herzlich
für diese Geschenke gedankt hatte, sagte Frau Else: 'Nun, mein
Kind! kämme mir und Frau Lurley die Haare, wir wollen die deinigen
dann auch kämmen'--dann gab sie ihr einen goldnen Kamm, und
Murmelthier kämmte Beiden die Haare und flocht sie so schön, dass
die Wasserfrauen sehr zufrieden mit ihr waren."

[44] In _H. Heines Leben und Werke_. Hamburg, 1884 (3d ed.),
Bd. I. p. 363. In the notes, Strodtmann reprints Loeben's ballad,
pp. 696-97. His statement is especially unsatisfactory in view of
the fact that he refers to the "fast gleicher Inhalt," though the