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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.
Margaret Hunt (London, 1884) |
