Friedrich Schiller wrote the ballad Der Taucher, The Diver, in 1797. It opens with a king’s challenge: Wer wagt es, Rittersmann oder Knapp, / Zu tauchen in diesen Schlund? Who dares, knight or squire, to dive into this abyss? The king has thrown a golden cup into a whirlpool. A youth dives and comes back with the cup in his hand. He reports: Da unten aber ist’s fürchterlich, / Und der Mensch versuche die Götter nicht. But down there it is dreadful, and man should not tempt the gods. The king then promises him his daughter in marriage, and the youth dives again. The ballad ends: Sie rauschen herauf, sie rauschen nieder, / Den Jüngling bringt keines wieder. They rush up, they rush down, and none brings back the youth. A teacher’s handbook on the ballad offers one reading: dass zu viel Kühnheit ins Verderben führt, that too much boldness leads to ruin.