Lover from a Foreign Land

The Rhine River, Western Europe's longest river, rose from the northern foothills of the Alps in Switzerland, flowed northwest through Liechtenstein, Austria, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, and finally emptied into the North Sea near Rotterdam.

The train departing from Bern traveled along the Rhine Valley.

Though Germany's Middle Rhine Valley was said to be the most beautiful stretch, the scenery along the upper Rhine was already breathtaking. Medieval towns and countless ancient castles lined both banks. The lyrics of The Song of the Nibelungs told how the treacherous Hagen, said to dwell in the Hunsrück Mountains, sank the Nibelung Hoard into the Rhine River.

Scotland had the Kelpie, while the Rhine River had freshwater mermaids. Sitting upright on the rocks, they had once lured ships to wreckage at the river's narrowest point with their enchanting voices and lovely faces. The most famous was the blonde girl upon Lorelei Rock, and sometimes people used Lorelei to refer to them as well.

As the train traveled through narrow valleys beside the ceaseless river, the blonde girl in the dining car was still playing her harp and singing softly, as though she were the magically enchanting Lorelei herself:

Last night I was invited to a wedding, to serve as bridesmaid for a girl who was not especially kind to me.

That day, she suddenly remembered the lover of her youth. Her old love suddenly entered her mind.

Everything went smoothly that night. When the wedding feast ended, every young person had to sing a beautiful song.

Until it was the turn of the foreign lover she loved.

The song he sang to the bride came from the bottom of his heart:

How could you sit at another man's table? How could you drink the wine another man offered you? How could you