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Knight Peter and the Sea Fairy
Fairy tale text by Undine & Jens [2025]
Interpretation by Undine & Jens in green [2025]
This ancient German legend is considered the source of inspiration for many stories about water fairies, nymphs, mermaids, Undines, and nixies, as well as for the famous fairy tale “Undine” by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué around 1811 and “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Andersen around 1836. The ancient legend can be traced back to a longer poem, probably written by Egenolf von Staufenberg around 1310, which was printed and commented on by Christian Moriz Engelhardt in his book “Der Ritter von Stauffenberg: Ein altdeutsches Gedicht” (The Knight of Stauffenberg: An Old German Poem) in 1823. We have created an abridged retelling of this tale, for which we would like to share some thoughts on its interpretation from a spiritual perspective. Let’s get started:
Once upon a time, there lived a knight named Peter Diemringer of Stauffenberg Castle in the Ortenau region, a jewel of knighthood in stature, bravery, virtue, honour, piety, and charity, the friend and favourite of loyal women. After, as a maturing youth, he had sought adventure in the world and won many battles against injustice for the good of Christianity, he returned to his native fortress as a seasoned man, praised and honoured. On the morning of a sunny Whitsun, he had his knave saddle and prepare his horses to ride to Nussbach for Holy Mass and to purify himself from sin. While he was still remembering God and reciting his usual prayer, his knave rode quickly ahead and, on the way, caught sight of a beautiful maiden. Dressed in a heavenly shimmering silk robe with golden embroidery depicting a variety of animals and adorned with jewellery made of healing gemstones, she sat alone on a small rock at the edge of the forest. He greeted the beautiful woman, but hurried past, for his master followed him, who was then struck by the arrow of love at the sight of this incomparable beauty. So, he, too, chastely greeted this most beautiful of women, who returned his greeting with gratitude. Then he dismounted, and she offered him her hands to be lifted from the stone. They sat down together in the grass, and the knight expressed his astonishment at finding such a noble maiden so alone. She replied with a smile: “I have been expecting you here. Ever since you rode a horse, I have remained faithful to you and have protected you everywhere and at all times, in storms and battles, at tournaments, and in fights of life and death. In all lands, I have always been with you, but you have never seen me before.”
The knight was highly delighted that he was finally granted the privilege of seeing her and wished never to leave her again until his death. Then the beautiful woman spoke: “This may well happen, whenever you are completely alone and your thoughts long for me, I will immediately be with you, with body and soul. You shall want for nothing, nor shall you ever fall ill. But there is one strict condition: Take everything, but no other wife, for that would bring you certain death within three days.” In return, she gave him God as guarantor, and without further hesitation, the knight swore a simple condition: His body and life shall belong to her as long as God allows him to remain on earth. Mutual kisses sealed their bond of love, but to consummate it, the lovely lady chastely referred to a solitary chamber and handed him a golden ring with a bright gemstone as a pledge of her promise. Now he should first fulfil his pious resolution and attend Holy Mass. The knight was worried about leaving her so alone, but she reassured him and said: “Wherever I want, there I am. God has granted me the fulfilment of my wishes.”
So, the knight rode to Holy Mass with his knave, who was already far ahead and waiting for him. The bell was already ringing for service, and with the final toll, the virtuous knight stood before the altar, knelt down, and prayed to God in Heaven and to the Queen of Heaven and Mother Mary, to whom he devoted himself completely, body and soul, possessions, and honor. Finally, he received the blessing and rode back home to his fortress, full of joy and elation. There, he withdrew alone to his quiet bedroom and thought longingly of his beloved, who immediately appeared in his arms, with body and soul. Thus, the tender couple spent their holy wedding night in the play of love with all bliss. As dawn broke, the beautiful woman spoke: “My dear husband, we now have this chamber until Judgment Day. As long as I am alone in your heart, I will fulfill your every wish and bring you much good.” And the knight swore his love to her once more, as long as God gave him life and senses.
So much for the first part. This legend, which has many fairy tale features, is worthy of much reflection, and has been done over the centuries. So, let’s try our hand at it: First, we encounter the ideal of a virtuous knight, loyal to the king and the church, fighting for Christianity. He is not called “Peter” for nothing, reminiscent of Saint Peter. And this holy and healing spirit likely unfolded within him, so that at Whitsun, when the descent of the Holy Spirit was celebrated in the church, he beheld a beautiful being in nature, which had always been close to him inwardly, which had always loved him, and which he now also beheld externally in nature, with body and soul. Here, in essence, we rediscover the knight’s holistic reason, how he recognizes the living essence of nature and celebrates the mystical marriage of spirit and nature, uniting himself as pure spirit with the pure soul of nature. This wedding is the holy marriage as a law or contract of eternity and thus the happy ending of many fairy tales and probably also the highest that man can achieve in this world.
Thus, the first part nicely describes how the knight, as holistic reason, had apparently conquered his selfish ego in the course of his development in many struggles for virtue and justice. Then, with his knave, as a conceptual mind who prepared the horses and their physicality, he was on his way to the descent of the Holy Spirit. The mind, which tends to rush ahead impatiently, recognizes the external beauty of nature as a living being, and reason then realizes holistic love. This wholeness of spirit and nature can, of course, only be experienced with body and soul when one is “alone,” that is, wholesome and all one. And the only condition for this wholeness in “loving embrace” is, of course, that one does not reconnect oneself in the whole with anything particular or separate. To reason, this initially seems simple and self-evident, but for the mind, it is already difficult to realize in the inner, spiritual world and even more difficult to live in the outer, physical world. And this challenge is then recounted in the second part of the story.
But let us stay briefly with this pure soul of nature, which bears the beautiful garment of all external forms and also the healing power of all precious stones. The title speaks of a sea fairy, and in many retellings of a mermaid, water nymph, Florine, Undine, or even Melusine. Interestingly, in this ancient poem, upon which we refer to here, there is no reference to water or the sea whatsoever, except for the place “Nußbach” (nutcreek), where the church stands. In later versions, the knight found the maiden on the stone by a spring or well, in which she lived, although the poem suggests that she lives more within the knight himself and is with him everywhere, even in the most foreign lands. In this respect, too, the soul of nature is a source of all external forms and thus also of life, just as the spirit is symbolically linked to the principle of rising fire and nature with the principle of flowing water. It is beautifully described how the soul of nature reaches her hands out to the spirit, for lifting her from the rock of dead matter to the green grass of life, where they kiss and love each other. However, the actual marriage or union takes place, as desired, inside the chamber or body, “all alone” in the chamber of the heart. There, the outer garments are laid aside, and spirit and nature can touch, recognize, and unite unveiled. Thus, the legend presents us with a wonderful vision of how the pure soul of nature is always with us, loving us and giving us all that is good, if we too love it holistically with a pure heart, both inside and out. Then it is a perfect and divine nature.
There is also a profound song on this topic by Karat about the “King of the World” from 1977:
Roll out the carpet so that the heart walks on velvet,
Place the silence of candles along the path.
The king of the world is the heart that loves,
and every heartbeat is an accolade,
for it is for another,
and only a king has this power...
Bow low and as far as you can,
before this glorious majesty,
and if your heart itself is to be a king,
then love, then love...
I say: Then love,
and One will be, the world is yours.
So, they lived contentedly and happily for a while, and she bestowed upon him great wealth, which the virtuous knight used charitably, so that he was much praised and honoured. After the knight and his retinue had visited many foreign lands, where the beautiful woman was with him day and night with all her love, even with body and soul whenever he was alone and desired it, the world-famous knight returned to his homeland rich in honour and possessions. His brothers and relatives welcomed him warmly and joyfully. They regretted only one thing: that the knight, who had brought such high honours to his family, still had no wife and children, even though no prince would deny him his daughter. Together they presented their concerns to him at the next feast. He was frightened and refused under various pretexts, claiming that he was still too young and adventurous, had other inclinations besides marriage, and did not want to give up his freedom. At the next opportunity, an elderly and highly experienced relative had to lead the others and press him again. He then stated in no uncertain manner that he would grant any request, but never take a wife. He would rather be hacked to pieces.
After the peevish conversation, he hurried to his bedchamber to long for his beloved. She hadn’t miss the sorrow that oppressed him, and she lamented being the cause of it: “Did I reveal myself too soon and dedicated myself as a wife?” Thereupon, he joyfully renewed his vows, and she authorized him, in case of further challenge, to declare frankly that he was already married to a woman who bestowed upon him all the good things that made him happy. She warned him once more, with deep seriousness, not to allow himself to be persuaded into any other marriage, for the inevitable consequence would be his death in three days.
After some time, the election and coronation of the Holy Roman-German king took place in Frankfurt, and all the princes and famous noblemen flocked there. Peter von Stauffenberg, along with his brothers and relatives, also went to the great feast, richly equipped and with a magnificent retinue. The king received the knight with great grace when his glorious name was mentioned to him. In the knightly tournament, he defeated all his opponents and spared the young men and those who avoided him with virtuous mildness. Thus, he once again won great fame and, above all, the hearts of women. The king saw this with joy, summoned him, and offered him his only niece, the heiress of Carinthia, as his bride. Her father and mother had died early, and the king had raised her as his own daughter. The young and virtuous beauty had now reached marriageable age, and so the king wished her such a powerful and virtuous protector as her husband. The knight was deeply frightened, turned pale, and fell silent. The princes and lords around him were greatly astonished and urged him to answer so as not to upset the king. With a halting voice, the knight declared his unworthiness to accept such a great princely favor. The king retorted: “Even if I offered her to a servant, she would trust me and not spurn him.”
The knight hesitated; the entire court called him a fool, and then the bishop asked him if he were perhaps already married. He then revealed his wonderful marriage, praising the beauty of his beloved and her boundless generosity, which he had been able to summon upon request. The bishop asked, “Then let us see the beautiful woman, too!” But the knight, cornered, confessed that she only allowed herself to be seen when he was completely alone. The bishop was frightened and said, “Such a wife is not true and is clearly the work of the devil. He who allies himself with the devil loses all good in the world, and his soul will fall into hell. A true Christian should marry a true wife.” The highly venerated clergyman preached this and much more, and the knight was deeply moved, allowed himself to be persuaded by the sermon, and finally yielded to the king’s will. Thus, the beautiful niece was betrothed to him, and the wedding celebration was to take place at Stauffenberg Castle.
The knight hurried ahead, and as night fell in his solitary chamber, he thought of his betrayed lover, who immediately appeared in his arms and said: “Ah, beloved husband, you want to break off our marriage and no longer be faithful to me. The woman you are marrying is to be pitied, and great will be the remorse, for on the third day of your marriage you will die. All my love cannot prevent this, for it will be your fate. As a sign, I will say to you: When you see my bare foot with all the lords and ladies at the wedding, then do not delay, but confess and prepare for your death.” But the knight remembered the priest’s sermon, doubted, and thought that perhaps the beautiful woman was lying and that the devil was deceiving him.
Soon after, the royal bride, entered Stauffenberg Castle with a magnificent entourage and a rich dowry, and the wedding was celebrated with great pomp. As everyone sat at the well-laid wedding table, the knight beside the bride, suddenly a bare foot, up to the knee, appeared from the ceiling above their heads, white as ivory and more beautiful than anyone had ever seen. The knight cried, “Oh dear!”, tore his hair, and spoke to the wedding guests: “Dear friends, you have ruined yourselves and me! I will be dead in three days.” The foot disappeared, the music fell silent, all dancing ceased, and the entire wedding party jumped to their feet and searched the room above the hall. But no one was to be found, not even a hole in the ceiling, and no trace. They said it could only have been a deception of the devil, and they withdrew in amazement from the scary place.
The knight turned pale and went to his chamber to lie down and prepare for his death. The priest was summoned for confession and the last rites, and the grave was prepared. His newlywed wife followed him chastely and faithfully into the chamber, but he apologized to the weeping woman that he could not grant her the joys of her wedding night and asked her and her entourage to attend only his burial. Then he exhorted his brothers to give his bride, after his death, everything he had won and everything that belonged to her. But she offered him her white and delicate hand and spoke virtuously: “No, all the goods I have brought with me remain yours. Because you lost your life through me, so I will also give mine and vow not to take another man and to go to a monastery where no man will ever touch me with his lips or see me with his eyes again. There I will ask God the Father and the Holy Mother for the salvation of your soul.” So, he said goodbye to everyone, confessed, commended his soul to God, died, and was buried on the third day. After his burial, his young wife fulfilled her vows and entered a local convent. Thus, the most virtuous knight who ever rode a horse met his end. May he long be remembered!
Where many fairy tales end with a mystical wedding, this knight’s story continues, and the second part is spiritually profound and difficult to understand. It revolves around the sole condition of wholeness: whoever has found and realized it, but breaks the holy matrimony, must face death within three days. Death is the loss of life, which cannot actually occur in wholeness, but only in separation. For this to happen, someone must be there to lose life—a separate person or an ego as a separating consciousness. The three days are reminiscent of the principle of time and thus also of transience, which appears with separation. We find the number three everywhere in nature where something moves and changes, usually as three forces, which we have already spoken about a lot. Here, with regard to the three days, we could think of the wedding on the first day, confession, anointing and dying on the second day, and death and burial on the third day, or, with regard to the marriage of soul and body, of the trinity of birth, aging and death as beginning, middle and end.
At first, the knight had an easy time accepting this single condition, for within him, holistic reason prevailed over the egoic mind, which served him as a knave in the physical world. He countered the worldly challenges of his conceptual mind from his brothers and friends with excuses, and the higher reason of an ancient wisdom with a clear and honest vow never to take another wife who would make him happy in life. But within himself, a doubt remained, a deep-seated fear of perhaps losing the happiness he had gained. And the pure soul of nature reminded him to truthfulness.
The next level of temptation came from the practical world in the form of a worldly king, to whom he was subject as a knight, and from a spiritual representative of God, whom he trusted as a Christian. The king appears to us not as a selfish tyrant, but as a ruling reason that recognizes the knight’s virtuous nature and his power and offers him an equally virtuous soul, which he himself had raised because she had been separated by the death of her father and mother and was now seeking a virtuous spirit.
The clergyman’s sermon is also interesting. For the Christian faith, it was probably not a problem if a woman married the incomprehensible spirit of God and did not desire a worldly husband. But if a man married the pure soul of holistic nature and did not desire a worldly wife, then this was seen as an illusion and the work of the devil, because this nature was not externally visible or comprehensible. Yet it is precisely the incomprehensible and limitless that is eternally true, and what appears solid and tangible is transient and illusory. Thus, the Christian faith has often been on a war footing with nature.
In this way, the knight was ultimately seized by doubt and found himself in a dilemma between his inner and outer worlds. Had he also recognized the pure soul of nature, with his holistic view of reason, in his worldly wife, and the worldly wife in the pure soul of nature—that is, spiritual unity in natural diversity, and natural diversity in spiritual unity—then he might have been able to resolve this dilemma and not have had to experience death as a principle of separation, for in this respect there is only one soul. Yet, the foot of nature then appeared above the heads of the worldly wedding couple and the impelling “wedding party”, who had now, so to speak, fallen under the dominion of nature. Just as the foot appeared so incomparably beautiful, and as the knight had also learned in the first part, nature always means well for us. Therefore, we can assume here, too, that this experience was fateful and necessary for the knight, for he finally regained trust in wholeness, was able to let go of all worldly possessions and even his body, and placed himself in the hands of God. In the same way, his worldly wife renounced all possessions and followed the divine path of wholeness in the monastery. Just as the knight had a supernatural wife, so his worldly wife eventually acquired a supernatural husband. Thus, the contradictions of the inner and outer worlds were once again balanced, and one can speak of a true happy ending, one that, however, remains unsatisfying for the ego-mind, because it seems to lose everything and can no longer hold on to anything. Wonderful!
Even the poet’s wish that the memory of this faithful knight would remain alive was fulfilled, for there is still a castle called Stauffenberg in Baden-Wuerttemberg near Durbach and Nußbach in the Ortenau district, where, amidst idyllic vineyards, this story is preserved, which has now inspired us again.
A translation of the entire Middle High German poem into modern German can be found at the end of our German fairy tale page: Ritter Peter und die Meerfee
• ... Table of contents of all fairy tale interpretations ...
• Saint Solicitous - (topic: beard and violin)
• The old witch - (topic: true Love and Reason)
• The Jew among Thorns - (topic: Reason and Mind)
• The Princess and the blind Blacksmith - (topic: Christmas)
• The Hare and the Hedgehog - (topic: I’m already here)
• Hans my Hedgehog - (topic: Reason and Nature)
• The Simpleton - (topic: Nature of the sea)
• The Water-Nix - (topic: Source and River)
• The Nix of the Mill-Pond - (topic: Water-being)
• The Little Mermaid Undine - (topic: Wave dance)
• Knight Peter and the Sea Fairy (topic: Knight-love)
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Text inspiration & Poem: Der Ritter von Stauffenberg, Christian Moriz Engelhardt, 1823 |