Ein einziger Schrei – die Stadt ist versunken,
Und Hunderttausende sind ertrunken.
Wo gestern noch Lärm und lustiger Tisch,
Schwamm andern Tags der stumme Fisch.
Heut bin ich über Rungholt gefahren,
Die Stadt ging unter vor sechshundert Jahren.
Trutz, Blanke Hans?
(Excerpt)
full text and info:
https://www.deutschland-lese.de/streifzuege/balladen/trutz-blanke-hans/
Germany; 19. Century; Christian; Poetry; City: Rungholt
Apparently an anglo-american invention, this story about the boy who rescues a Dutch city by sticking his finger in a hole in the dyke, has been republished in various versions since the mid 1800s . This is the earliest published version of the story and it starts with the words, ” A long way off, across the ocean, there is a little country where the ground is lower than the level of the sea…”
A map I made of locations of sunken cities or cities that are currently threatened by rising sea levels or land subsidence.
Click on image to follow link to google maps.
Last image from Gustave Doré‘s Book “London – A Pilgrimage” (1872). Detailed Information.
France; 19. Century; Christian; Illustration; City: London
