Lorelei

Lorelei or Lurlei, steep rock, west central Germany, about 130 m (430 ft) high, rising perpendicularly on the right bank of the River Rhine, near the town of St Goar. The Lorelei is situated in a part of the river that is very difficult to navigate and is celebrated for an echo. These factors inspired the German writer Clemens Brentano, who in his novel Godwi (1800-1802) created the legend of a beautiful siren who sits on the rock and entices mariners to their death. The story was later retold in Die Lorelei (1823), a famous lyric by the German poet Heinrich Heine.