Then Rico fiddled and sung the verse with her, and said again, "Some more."
Stineli laughed, and, glancing at Rico, sang,—
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"And a sad little boy, And a very gay maid; And a lake like another, That from water is made." |
Laughing and singing, Stineli went on,—
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"And the lambkins, and the lambkins, They jumped up so high, And all were most merry, And did not know why. "And a boy and a girl By the lake-side did sit, And because they forgot it, It hurt not a bit." |
Now they began at the very beginning, and sang the whole thing through again, and made merry over it, and were so happy that they sang it at least ten times over; and the more they repeated it, the better it sounded to their ears.
After this Rico played several tunes that he had learned from his father; but they soon came back to their own song, and began that again.
In the midst of it the girl stopped and said, "It has just come into my head how you can go down to the other lake, and will not need any money either."
Rico paused suddenly and gazed at his companion, awaiting what was coming next.
"Don't you see," she said earnestly, "now you have a fiddle, and you know a song. You can go and play your song, and sing before the taverns; then the people will give you something to eat and to drink, and let you sleep there, for they will see that you are not a beggar. So you can go on until you reach the lake; and, coming home, you can do the same thing again."