The legend of the Elbjungfer
The legend of the Elbjungfer takes place in what is now Magdeburg .
legend
In the Elbe lived a mermaid who appeared to people in the form of a beautiful girl. Her clothes mostly consisted of a slightly greenish shimmering bodice, the buttons were made of glittering diamond drops and the color of her dress was mostly the most beautiful blue. The hem of the dress always stayed wet. On market days she came to town to buy fruit, bread and meat. She always came alone and went out of town alone with a full basket. No resident of the city knew who the girl was, where she came from and where she was going.
A young man was so enchanted by the girl's beauty that he waited for her every market day just to look at her. One day he gathered up all his courage and spoke to her at the city gate. He asked the beauty if he could go with her, but she refused. However, he did not allow himself to be turned away so easily and continued to penetrate her. After a while she quietly confessed to him that she was a mermaid . She went on to say that her father and her brothers were already waiting for them and the purchases on the Elbe . The young man no longer wanted to live without the mermaid and so he did not hesitate and asked her if she would marry him. For her, he would even go down into the waters to live with her.
Since the mermaid was already a little in love and happily surprised by the proposal, she promised to talk to her father. He should wait on the bank and look at the surface of the water while she asked her family. As a sign that her father would have agreed, an apple should rise from the waves on a plate. But if the water turns blood red, her brothers would have murdered her. After one last sad look that was full of tenderness, she jumped into the Elbe. The young man didn't have to wait long for a sign, because shortly after the mermaid disappeared, the water turned blood red.
Full of sadness and horror, the young man stared at the waters of the Elbe until evening, before slowly walking home in the evening.
Individual proof
- ^ Axel Kühling: Magdeburg sagas, first part . Delta-D, 2001, p. 38 .