Lohengrin and Elsa the Beautiful

The young Duchess of Brabant, Elsa the Beautiful, had gone hunting in the woods. She became separated from her attendants and sat down to rest beneath a wide-branching linden tree.

She was deeply troubled, for many lords and princes were asking for her hand in marriage. More urgent than all the others was the invincible hero, Count Telramund, her former guardian, who had ruled the land with a masterly hand since her father's death. On his deathbed, the duke had promised Telramund that he might have Elsa for his wife, should she be willing. Telramund was constantly reminding her of this promise. But Elsa blushed with shame at the very thought of such a union, for Telramund was a rough warrior, hated for his cruelty as much as he was feared for his strength. To make matters worse, he was now at the court of King Henry of Saxony, threatening her with war and even worse calamities.

In the shade of the linden, Elsa thought of all this and pitied her loneliness, having no brother or friend to stand by her side. Then the sweet singing of the birds seemed to comfort her, and she drifted into a gentle sleep. As she dreamed, it seemed that a young knight stepped out from the depths of the forest. Holding up a small silver bell, he spoke in friendly tones:

"If you should ever need my help, just ring this."

Elsa tried to take the trinket, but she could neither rise nor reach his outstretched hand. Then she awoke.

Thinking over the vision, Elsa noticed a falcon circling over her head. It came nearer and finally settled on her shoulder. Around its neck hung a bell exactly like the one she had seen in her dream. She loosened it, and as she did so, the bird rose and flew away. But she still held the little bell in her hand, and in her soul there was fresh hope and peace.

When she returned to the castle, she found a message bidding her to appear before the king in Cologne on the Rhine. Filled with confidence in the protection of higher powers, she obeyed without hesitation. In gorgeous costume, with many followers, she set out.

King Henry was a man who loved justice and exercised it, but his kingdom was in constant danger from raids by wild Huns. For this reason, he wished to do whatever would win the favor of the powerful Count Telramund. But when he saw Elsa in all her beauty and innocence, he hesitated.

The accuser brought forward three men who testified that the duchess had entered into a secret union with one of her vassals. Only two of these men were proven to be perjurers; the testimony of the third seemed valid, though it was not enough to condemn her.

Then Telramund seized his sword, crying out that God himself should be the judge and that a duel should decide the matter. So a duel was arranged to take place three days later.

Elsa cast her eyes around the circle of nobles, but she saw no one grasp his sword in defense of her innocence. Fear of the mighty warrior filled them all.

Remembering the little bell, she drew it from her pocket and rang it. The clear tones broke the stillness and grew louder, reaching even the distant mountains.

"My champion will appear in the contest," she said. The count let out a mocking laugh that filled all hearts with intense fear.

The day of the contest arrived. The king sat on his high throne and watched the majestic river that sent its mighty waters through the valley. Princes and brave knights were gathered together. Before them stood Telramund, clad in armor, and at his side the accused Elsa, adorned with every grace that nature can bestow.

Three times the mighty hero challenged someone to come forward as a champion for the accused girl, but no one stirred. Then arose from the Rhine the sound of sweet music. Something silvery gleamed in the distance, and as it came nearer, it was plain that it was a swan with silver feathers. With a silver chain, it was pulling a small ship in which lay a sleeping knight clad in bright armor.

When the boat landed, the knight awoke, rose, and blew three times on a golden horn. This was the signal that he took up the challenge. Quickly he strode into the lists.

"Your name and descent?" cried the herald.

"My name is Lohengrin," answered the stranger, "my origin royal; more it is not necessary to tell."

"Enough," broke in the king, "nobility is written on your brow."

Trumpets gave the signal for the fight to begin. Telramund's strokes fell thick as hail, but suddenly the stranger knight rose and with one fearful stroke split the count's helmet and cut his head.

"God has decided," cried the king. "His judgment is right. But you, noble knight, will help us in the campaign against the barbarian hordes and will be the leader of the detachment that the fair duchess will send from Brabant."

Gladly Lohengrin consented, and amid cries of delight from the assembled people, he rode over to Elsa, who greeted him as her deliverer.

Lohengrin escorted Elsa back to Brabant, and on the way love awoke in their hearts, and they knew that they were destined for each other. In the castle of Antwerp, they were pledged, and a few weeks later the marriage took place. As the bridal couple were leaving the cathedral, Lohengrin said to Elsa:

"One thing I must ask of you, and that is that you never inquire concerning my origin, for in the hour that you put that question must I surely part from you."

It was not long after the ceremony that the cry to arms came from King Henry. Elsa accompanied her husband and his troops to Cologne, where all the counts of the kingdom were assembled. There were many inquiries concerning Lohengrin, and when none seemed to know of his origin, some jealously claimed that he was the son of a heathen magician and that he gained his victories by the power of black arts.

Elsa, who had heard rumors of these charges, was deeply grieved, for she knew the noble heart of her husband. He had even relieved her fears for his safety by the assurance that he was under the protection of powers higher than human.

But she could not banish the evil rumors from her mind, and forgetting the warning her husband had given her on the day of her marriage, she dropped to her knees and asked him concerning his birth.

"Dear wife," he cried in great distress, "now will I tell to you and to the king and to all the assembled princes what up to this time I have kept secret. But know that the time of our parting is at hand."

Then the hero led his trembling wife before the king and his nobles who were assembled on the banks of the Rhine.

"The son of Parsifal am I," he said, "the son of Parsifal, the keeper of the Holy Grail. Gladly would I have helped you, O King, in your fight against the barbarians, but an unavoidable fate calls me away. You will, however, be victorious, and under your descendants will Germany become a powerful nation."

When he finished speaking, there was a deep silence, and then, as upon his arrival, there rose the sound of music—not joyful this time, but solemn, like a chant at the grave of the dead. It came nearer, and again the swan and the boat appeared.

"Farewell, dear one," Lohengrin cried, folding his wife in his arms. "Too dearly did I hold you and your pleasant land of earth; now a higher duty calls me."

Weeping, Elsa clung to him. But the swan song sounded louder, like a warning. He tore himself free and stepped into the boat. Was it the ship of death and destruction, or only the ship that carried the blessed to the sacred place of the Grail? No one knew.

Elsa, lonely and sad, did not live long after the separation. Her only hope was that she would be reunited with her dear husband, and she parted willingly with her own life, as other children of earth have done when they have lost all that they held most precious.