"Not exactly: I am from the Tauber Valley."
"Oh, we're not so particular about that: we call it all lowlands the other side of Boeblingen. What's the name of your place?"
The teacher hesitated a little, laid his hands upon his breast, and finally answered, with a bend of the head, "Lauterbach."
Buchmaier burst into a shout of laughter, which the teacher received in solemn earnestness. At last the former said, "Don't take it amiss: why, Lauterbach,--every child knows of Lauterbach,--it's in the song, you know. What made you hem and haw about it? There's no shame in't, I'm sure. Now, couldn't you tell me--I always wanted to know--why did they just put Lauterbach into the song?"
"How should I know? I suppose there is no reason for it. These stupid songs are generally made by simpletons who take any town they happen to think of, if it fits the metre: I mean the verse."
"Oh, I don't think the song so stupid as all that, and it has a funny tune: I like to hear people sing it."
"You must permit me to differ with you."
"What about permitting? If I didn't permit it, you'd do it anyhow. Just tell me, straight out, why you don't like it."
"What idea, what common sense, is there in a song like this?--
'At Lauterbach my stocking slipp'd off: