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On the border between Alsace and Rheinland-Pfalz, on the pass leading from Hohenbourg Castle to Wegelnbourg Castle, is a spring called Maidebrunnen, the Spring of the Young Girl. As the clocks strike midnight in the distant villages, and the night wind rustles through the majestic beech trees, elves and young girls in white appear. Then the doors of Hohenbourg Castle open and an exquisitely beautiful girl comes out. Slowly, without a sound, she walks down the path to the spring. Dressed in flowing white robes, her long, dark hair hangs down to her waist. A mysterious light illuminates the path in front of her. Her smile is gracious and her sparkling eyes search the distant hills; she seems to be in some delicious dream. She seats herself on the edge of the spring and washes her face in the water. Taking a golden comb from the sash around her waist she starts combing her beautiful, long tresses. Imperceptibly, she starts singing, sweetly, a harmonious lament telling of love and deception, reproaching herself for so unfairly having scorned the gentle knight who loved her. She is forever banished to the ruins of the Castle where she must wait for a new lover. The young man she so desires will perhaps come this night, now that the moon's cold silver light sparkles on the nearby firs and transforms the leaves of the beeches and oaks. The man she seeks could be a hunter tracking a young roe deer, a traveller on his way home late at night, or a wandering knight. He will declare his love and release her from the spell. As the minutes pass, the young girl's voice, as delicate as the notes from a harp, grows steadily more anguished, imploring her release. Then, woe to the young girl, the faraway clocks strike the first hour of the new morning. Sobbing, she rises, then breaking into tears walks slowly back up the path to Hohenbourg where, having cast a last imploring look around her, she disappears through a small door into the dark depths of the ruins.
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