90 lines
5.6 KiB
Text
90 lines
5.6 KiB
Text
The Wonderful Musician
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There was once a wonderful musician, who went quite alone through a
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forest and thought of all manner of things, and when nothing was left
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for him to think about, he said to himself, “Time is beginning to pass
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heavily with me here in the forest, I will fetch hither a good
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companion for myself.” Then he took his fiddle from his back, and
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played so that it echoed through the trees. It was not long before a
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wolf came trotting through the thicket towards him. “Ah, here is a wolf
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coming! I have no desire for him!” said the musician; but the wolf came
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nearer and said to him, “Ah, dear musician, how beautifully thou dost
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play. I should like to learn that, too.” “It is soon learnt,” the
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musician replied, “thou hast only to do all that I bid thee.” “Oh,
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musician,” said the wolf, “I will obey thee as a scholar obeys his
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master.” The musician bade him follow, and when they had gone part of
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the way together, they came to an old oak-tree which was hollow inside,
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and cleft in the middle. “Look,” said the musician, “if thou wilt learn
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to fiddle, put thy fore paws into this crevice.” The wolf obeyed, but
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the musician quickly picked up a stone and with one blow wedged his two
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paws so fast that he was forced to stay there like a prisoner. “Stay
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there until I come back again,” said the musician, and went his way.
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After a while he again said to himself, “Time is beginning to pass
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heavily with me here in the forest, I will fetch hither another
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companion,” and took his fiddle and again played in the forest. It was
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not long before a fox came creeping through the trees towards him. “Ah,
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there’s a fox coming!” said the musician. “I have no desire for him.”
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The fox came up to him and said, “Oh, dear musician, how beautifully
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thou dost play! I should like to learn that too.” “That is soon
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learnt,” said the musician. “Thou hast only to do everything that I bid
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thee.” “Oh, musician,” then said the fox, “I will obey thee as a
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scholar obeys his master.” “Follow me,” said the musician; and when
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they had walked a part of the way, they came to a footpath, with high
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bushes on both sides of it. There the musician stood still, and from
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one side bent a young hazel-bush down to the ground, and put his foot
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on the top of it, then he bent down a young tree from the other side as
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well, and said, “Now little fox, if thou wilt learn something, give me
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thy left front paw.” The fox obeyed, and the musician fastened his paw
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to the left bough. “Little fox,” said he, “now reach me thy right paw”
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and he tied it to the right bough. When he had examined whether they
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were firm enough, he let go, and the bushes sprang up again, and jerked
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up the little fox, so that it hung struggling in the air. “Wait there
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till I come back again,” said the musician, and went his way.
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Again he said to himself, “Time is beginning to pass heavily with me
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here in the forest, I will fetch hither another companion,” so he took
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his fiddle, and the sound echoed through the forest. Then a little hare
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came springing towards him. “Why, a hare is coming,” said the musician,
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“I do not want him.” “Ah, dear musician,” said the hare, “how
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beautifully thou dost fiddle; I too, should like to learn that.” “That
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is soon learnt,” said the musician, “thou hast only to do everything
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that I bid thee.”
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“Oh, musician,” replied the little hare, “I will obey thee as a scholar
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obeys his master.” They went a part of the way together until they came
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to an open space in the forest, where stood an aspen tree. The musician
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tied a long string round the little hare’s neck, the other end of which
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he fastened to the tree. “Now briskly, little hare, run twenty times
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round the tree!” cried the musician, and the little hare obeyed, and
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when it had run round twenty times, it had twisted the string twenty
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times round the trunk of the tree, and the little hare was caught, and
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let it pull and tug as it liked, it only made the string cut into its
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tender neck. “Wait there till I come back,” said the musician, and went
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onwards.
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The wolf, in the meantime, had pushed and pulled and bitten at the
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stone, and had worked so long that he had set his feet at liberty and
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had drawn them once more out of the cleft. Full of anger and rage he
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hurried after the musician and wanted to tear him to pieces. When the
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fox saw him running, he began to lament, and cried with all his might,
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“Brother wolf, come to my help, the musician has betrayed me!” The wolf
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drew down the little tree, bit the cord in two, and freed the fox, who
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went with him to take revenge on the musician. They found the tied-up
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hare, whom likewise they delivered, and then they all sought the enemy
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together.
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The musician had once more played his fiddle as he went on his way, and
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this time he had been more fortunate. The sound reached the ears of a
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poor wood-cutter, who instantly, whether he would or no, gave up his
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work and came with his hatchet under his arm to listen to the music.
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“At last comes the right companion,” said the musician, “for I was
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seeking a human being, and no wild beast.” And he began and played so
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beautifully and delightfully that the poor man stood there as if
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bewitched, and his heart leaped with gladness. And as he thus stood,
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the wolf, the fox, and the hare came up, and he saw well that they had
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some evil design. So he raised his glittering axe and placed himself
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before the musician, as if to say, “Whoso wishes to touch him let him
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beware, for he will have to do with me!” Then the beasts were terrified
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and ran back into the forest. The musician, however, played once more
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to the man out of gratitude, and then went onwards.
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