[85] In chap, XV Eichendorff introduces the ballad as follows:
"Leontin, der wenig darauf achtgab, begann folgendes Lied über ein
am Rheine bekanntes Märchen." The reference can be only to
Brentano, despite the fact that the first two lines are so
strongly reminiscent of Goethe's "Erlkonig." Eichendorff and
Brentano became acquainted in Heidelberg and then in Berlin they
were intimate. There is every reason to believe that Eichendorff
knew Bretano's "Rheinmärchen" in manuscript form. For the relation
of the two, see the Kosch edition of Eichendorff's
works. _Briefe_ and _Tagebücher,_ Vols. XI-XIII.

[86] Niklas Vogt included, to be sure, in his _Jugendphantasien üher
die Sagen des Rheins_ (_ca._ 1811) an amplified
recapitulation in prose of Brentano's ballad. Schreiber knew this
work, for in his _Handbuch_ there is a bibliography of no
fewer than ten pages of "Schriften, welche auf die Rheingegend
Bezug haben." So far as one can determine such a matter from mere
titles, the only one of these that could have helped him in the
composition of his Lorelei-saga is: _Rheinische Geschichten und
Sagen_, von Niklas Vogt. Frankfurt am Main, 1817, 6 Bände.

[87] Eduard Thorn says (p. 89): "Man darf annehmen, dass Heine die
Ballade Brentano's kennen gelernt hat, dass er aus ihr den Namen
entlehnte, wobei ihm Eichendorff die Fassung 'Lorelei' lieferte,
und das ihm erst Loebens Auffassung der Sage zur Gestaltung
verhelfen hat." It sounds like a case of _ceterum censeo_,
but Thorn's argument as to Brentano and Heine is so thin that this
statement too can be looked upon only as a weakly supported
hypothesis.