The Wonderful Musician

There was once a wonderful musician, who went quite alone through a
forest and thought of all manner of things, and when nothing was left
for him to think about, he said to himself, "Time is beginning to pass
heavily with me here in the forest, I will fetch hither a good
companion for myself." Then he took his fiddle from his back, and
played so that it echoed through the trees. It was not long before a
wolf came trotting through the thicket towards him. "Ah, here is a wolf
coming! I have no desire for him!" said the musician; but the wolf came
nearer and said to him, "Ah, dear musician, how beautifully thou dost
play. I should like to learn that, too." "It is soon learnt," the
musician replied, "thou hast only to do all that I bid thee." "Oh,
musician," said the wolf, "I will obey thee as a scholar obeys his
master." The musician bade him follow, and when they had gone part of
the way together, they came to an old oak-tree which was hollow inside,
and cleft in the middle. "Look," said the musician, "if thou wilt learn
to fiddle, put thy fore paws into this crevice." The wolf obeyed, but
the musician quickly picked up a stone and with one blow wedged his two
paws so fast that he was forced to stay there like a prisoner. "Stay
there until I come back again," said the musician, and went his way.

After a while he again said to himself, "Time is beginning to pass
heavily with me here in the forest, I will fetch hither another
companion," and took his fiddle and again played in the forest. It was
not long before a fox came creeping through the trees towards him. "Ah,
there's a fox coming!" said the musician. "I have no desire for him."
The fox came up to him and said, "Oh, dear musician, how beautifully
thou dost play! I should like to learn that too." "That is soon
learnt," said the musician. "Thou hast only to do everything that I bid
thee." "Oh, musician," then said the fox, "I will obey thee as a
scholar obeys his master." "Follow me," said the musician; and when
they had walked a part of the way, they came to a footpath, with high
bushes on both sides of it. There the musician stood still, and from
one side bent a young hazel-bush down to the ground, and put his foot
on the top of it, then he bent down a young tree from the other side as
well, and said, "Now little fox, if thou wilt learn something, give me
thy left front paw." The fox obeyed, and the musician fastened his paw
to the left bough. "Little fox," said he, "now reach me thy right paw"
and he tied it to the right bough. When he had examined whether they
were firm enough, he let go, and the bushes sprang up again, and jerked
up the little fox, so that it hung struggling in the air. "Wait there
till I come back again," said the musician, and went his way.

Again he said to himself, "Time is beginning to pass heavily with me
here in the forest, I will fetch hither another companion," so he took
his fiddle, and the sound echoed through the forest. Then a little hare
came springing towards him. "Why, a hare is coming," said the musician,
"I do not want him." "Ah, dear musician," said the hare, "how
beautifully thou dost fiddle; I too, should like to learn that." "That
is soon learnt," said the musician, "thou hast only to do everything
that I bid thee."

"Oh, musician," replied the little hare, "I will obey thee as a scholar
obeys his master." They went a part of the way together until they came
to an open space in the forest, where stood an aspen tree. The musician
tied a long string round the little hare's neck, the other end of which
he fastened to the tree. "Now briskly, little hare, run twenty times
round the tree!" cried the musician, and the little hare obeyed, and
when it had run round twenty times, it had twisted the string twenty
times round the trunk of the tree, and the little hare was caught, and
let it pull and tug as it liked, it only made the string cut into its
tender neck. "Wait there till I come back," said the musician, and went
onwards.

The wolf, in the meantime, had pushed and pulled and bitten at the
stone, and had worked so long that he had set his feet at liberty and
had drawn them once more out of the cleft. Full of anger and rage he
hurried after the musician and wanted to tear him to pieces. When the
fox saw him running, he began to lament, and cried with all his might,
"Brother wolf, come to my help, the musician has betrayed me!" The wolf
drew down the little tree, bit the cord in two, and freed the fox, who
went with him to take revenge on the musician. They found the tied-up
hare, whom likewise they delivered, and then they all sought the enemy
together.

The musician had once more played his fiddle as he went on his way, and
this time he had been more fortunate. The sound reached the ears of a
poor wood-cutter, who instantly, whether he would or no, gave up his
work and came with his hatchet under his arm to listen to the music.
"At last comes the right companion," said the musician, "for I was
seeking a human being, and no wild beast." And he began and played so
beautifully and delightfully that the poor man stood there as if
bewitched, and his heart leaped with gladness. And as he thus stood,
the wolf, the fox, and the hare came up, and he saw well that they had
some evil design. So he raised his glittering axe and placed himself
before the musician, as if to say, "Whoso wishes to touch him let him
beware, for he will have to do with me!" Then the beasts were terrified
and ran back into the forest. The musician, however, played once more
to the man out of gratitude, and then went onwards.
