In the mountains,

above the snow,

I found a castle

from long ago.

Forbidding walls

rise to the sky;

gloomy forests

meet the eye.

I wonder whom

I’ll meet inside —

which king will be

my ghostly guide?

Teacher’s note: Wartburg (pronounced Vartburg) Castle sits on 410-metrte precipice above the town of Eisenach, in the state of Thuringia, Germany. Dating from 1067, it is associated with Saint Elisabeth of Hungary, Martin Luther, and a legendary minstrels’ contest.