Let's pretend we're sailing down the Rhine River on a pleasure boat. The Rhine is one of the main waterways of Germany, and the river traffic is heavy. It's interesting to watch the many boats going up and down the river. But the river traffic is not nearly so interesting as the beautiful scenery along the banks and hillsides. The boat is passing many old castles. We can see people working in the vineyards   on the hillsides. There are vineyards as far as the eye can see. Wine from the Rhine Valley is famous all over the world. Suddenly our boat slows down and begins to turn a little. We are coming to a sharp bend in the river. On our right we can see a rocky cliff over 400 feet high. At first it looks quite ordinary, but there is nothing ordinary about it. There are many stories, poems, and songs about the cliff. We are looking at the Lorelei. Then someone on the boat begins to sing in German, the song of the Lorelei. It is a song about a beautiful siren   who has lured  many sailors to their deaths. The siren is supposed to sit on the rock combing her long golden hair and singing. The sailors who hear her forget to steer , and the current of river hurls   their boats on the rocks and dashes them to pieces. Soon other people on the boat begin to sing. The beautiful song adds to special magic to the moment, and you begin to realize why so many people have made this trip down the Rhine to see the rock of the Lorelei. We can see a rocky cliff over 400 feet high    _    .
on our right when coming to a sharp bend on the Rhine hillsides from the Rhine Valley on the boat