Wolferl was always busy composing music. But he played games and had a good time just like any other boy. When he was busy with his music, however, he never let his thoughts go to anything else.
But we must not go too fast, for we want to see how Wolferl is growing up.
Here is his picture when he was five years old and beside it another when he was eight years old. Do you see his wig and sword?
MOZART AT FIVE.
MOZART AT EIGHT.
Everybody in Paris wanted to hear Wolferl play when they knew that he had come, so they asked him to read at sight; to play the bass part to a melody and to accompany a song without seeing the music.
People also took great delight in asking him to play on the harpsichord with a cloth stretched over the keyboard so that he could not see the keys.
They all went to London to play for the King. The King wanted to see for himself how skilful little Mozart was, so he gave him pieces by Bach and Handel to play at sight. Mozart read them off at once. Here is a fine picture of the Mozart children when they played for the King and the Queen.