Now it befell that the Christian camp was thrown into consternation by the appearance of a huge dragon which took up its abode in the mountainous country, the only locality whence water could be procured, and the increasing scarcity of the supply necessitated the extirpation of the monster.  The Crusaders were powerless through fear; many of them regarded the dragon as a punishment sent from Heaven because of the discord and rivalry which divided them.

At last the brave Broemser offered to attempt the dragon’s destruction, and after a valiant struggle he succeeded in slaying it.  On his way back to the camp he was surprised by a party of Saracens, and after various hardships was cast into a dungeon.  Here he remained in misery for a long while, and during his solitary confinement he made a vow that if he ever returned to his native land he would found a convent and dedicate his daughter as its first nun.

Some time later the Saracens’ stronghold was attacked by Christians and the knight set free.  In due course he returned to Ruedesheim, where he was welcomed by Gisela, and the day after his arrival a young knight named Kurt of Falkenstein begged him for her hand.  Gisela avowed her love for Kurt, and Broemser sadly replied that he would willingly accede to the young people’s wishes, for Falkenstein’s father was his companion-in-arms, were he not bound by a solemn vow to dedicate his daughter to the Church.  When Falkenstein at last understood that the knight’s decision was irrevocable he galloped off as if crazed.  The knight’s vow, however, was not to be fulfilled; Gisela’s reason became unhinged, she wandered aimlessly through the corridors of the castle, and one dark and stormy night cast herself into the Rhine and was drowned.  Broemser built the convent, but in vain did he strive to free his conscience from remorse.  Many were his benefactions, and he built a church on the spot where one of his servants found a wooden figure of the Crucified, which was credited with miraculous powers of healing.  But all to no purpose.  Haunted by the accusing spirit of his unfortunate daughter, he gradually languished and at last died in the same year that the church was completed.

Further up the river is Oestrich, adjacent to which stood the famous convent of Gottesthal, not a vestige of which remains to mark its former site.  Its memory is preserved, however, in the following appalling legend, the noble referred to being the head of one of the ancient families of the neighbourhood.

The Nun of Oestrich

Among the inmates of Gottesthal was a nun of surpassing loveliness, whose beauty had aroused the wild passion of a certain noble.  Undeterred by the fact of the lady being a cloistered nun, he found a way of communicating his passion to her, and at last met her face to face, despite bars and bolts.  Eloquently he pleaded his love, swearing to free her from her bonds, to devote his life to her if only she would listen to his entreaties.  He ended his asseverations by kneeling before the statue of the Virgin, vowing in her name and that of the Holy Babe to be true, and renouncing his hopes of Heaven if he should fail in the least of his promises.  The nun listened and in the end, overcome by his fervour, consented to his wishes.