The Rhine! River of what histories, tragedies, comedies, legends,stories, and songs! Associated with the greatest events of the historyof Germany, France, and Northern Europe; with the Rome of Cæsar andAurelian; with the Rome of the Popes; with the Reformation; with theshadowy goblin lore and beautiful fairy tales of the twilight ofCeltic civilization that have been evolved through centuries and havebecome the household stories of all enlightened lands!A journey down the Rhine is like passing through wonderland; wildstories, quaint stories, legendary and historic stories, areassociated with every rood of ground from the Alps to the ocean. It isa region of the stories of two thousand years. The Rhine is the riverof the poet; its banks are the battle-fields of heroes; its forestsand villages the fairy lands of old.