“How could that be?” they said. Then they began looking, they found the Fiddler, and they shouted:
“Ha, ha, ha! Here’s a Fiddler.”
They pulled him off the stove, and set him to work fiddling. He played three years, though it seemed to him only three days. Then he got tired and said:
“Here’s a wonder! After playing a whole evening I used always to find all my fiddle-strings snapped. But now, though I’ve been playing for three whole days, they are all sound. May the Lord grant us his blessing!”[394]
No sooner had he uttered these words than every one of the strings snapped.
“There now, brothers!” says the Fiddler, “you can see for yourselves. The strings are snapped; I’ve nothing to play on!”
“Wait a bit!” said one of the fiends. “I’ve got two hanks of catgut; I’ll fetch them for you.”
He ran off and fetched them. The Fiddler took the strings, screwed them up, and again uttered the words:
“May the Lord grant us his blessing!”
In a moment snap went both hanks.