On the night following the wedding, there was a merry company assembled at the house of the Fiddler, and everyone was talking, laughing or singing, when suddenly there was a tapping at the window. The Fiddler looked out and saw Death beckoning to him. So, not wishing to disturb his guests, he picked up his fiddle and went out of the house.
Remembering the tune, however, he did not wait for Death to speak, but straightway began to play, and Death, his bones rattling, started dancing in the moonlight.
The guests, missing their host and hearing the music, crowded to the window, but all they could see was the Fiddler jigging madly away. ‘He wants us to dance outside in the moonlight,’ cried one, and out they all went, and danced merrily with Death, who was becoming a little weary, in the middle.
‘I hate parties—except in time of plague or war’, panted Death to the Fiddler, and he danced away out of sight, and the Fiddler never saw him again for many, many years.
THE COLLEGE OF IMMORTAL FAME
MARUS, a young poet of Levion, was walking in the by-ways of that city, one day, when he came to a great door which he had never seen before, and above the door was written in letters of gold:
‘THE COLLEGE OF IMMORTAL FAME’
So Marus knocked loudly at the door, and when it was opened, said to the Porter: ‘I desire to enter the College.’
‘Do you desire it more than anything else in the whole world?’ asked the Porter, in a solemn voice.
‘I do,’ said Marus, whose curiosity was awakened.