hs were about to draw their
swords, it was thought necessary to separate them.

Seizing this opportunity one of the other knights proposed that to
guard against further discord, the castle maidens should be urged to
make a final decision, so that each suitor--they all recognised one
another as such--might know what he had to expect.

The proposal met with general applause, only the sisters showed
discontentment, declaring they could not agree to such a presumptuous
plan. However the wooers tried every imaginable means of persuading
them, and at last one of the sisters wavered, a second followed her
example, and the remaining ones, after whispering to each other for
some time, declared with laughing countenances that they would decide
the fate of their suitors the next day.

The expected hour arrived, and the knights in great suspense assembled
in the large hall.

Every eye was riveted on the door through which these Graces should
enter, bringing a sweet surprise to some or a bitter disappointment to
others.

The folding-doors were suddenly thrown open, and an attendant
announced that the mistresses of the castle were waiting to receive
the knights in the garden near the river.

The numerous suitors all hurried out. To their great astonishment they
saw the fair ones all seated in a boat on the Rhine. With a peculiar
smile they beckoned the knights to approach, and the eldest sister
standing up in her seat, made the following speech.

"You may all throw your hopes to the winds, for not one of us would
dream of falling in love with you, much less of marrying you. Our
liberty is much too precious to us, and we shall not sacrifice it for
any man. We are going to sail down to Cologne to the property of a
relation, and there we shall disappoint other suitors, just as we have
misled you, my noble lords. Good-bye, good-bye!"

The scornful speech was accompanied by a scoffing laugh which was
re-echoed by the other sisters, and the boat set sail.

The rejected suitors stood speechless with shame and anger.

Suddenly a terrible storm arose, the boat was agitated violently, and
the laughter of the seven sisters was turned to cries for help. But
the roaring of the waves drowned their voices, and the billows rushed
over the boat, burying it and the seven sisters in the depths below.

Just on the spot where these stony-hearted maidens met their deaths,
seven pointed rocks appeared above the surface of the water, which up