Page 325 of 626

Our honest friend journeyed on his way too; and if he was merry

before, he was now ten times more so. He had not gone far before

he met an old miser: close by them stood a tree, and on the

topmost twig sat a thrush singing away most joyfully. 'Oh, what a

pretty bird!' said the miser; 'I would give a great deal of money

to have such a one.' 'If that's all,' said the countryman, 'I

will soon bring it down.' Then he took up his bow, and down fell

the thrush into the bushes at the foot of the tree. The miser

crept into the bush to find it; but directly he had got into the

middle, his companion took up his fiddle and played away, and the

miser began to dance and spring about, capering higher and higher

in the air. The thorns soon began to tear his clothes till they

all hung in rags about him, and he himself was all scratched and

wounded, so that the blood ran down. 'Oh, for heaven's sake!'

cried the miser, 'Master! master! pray let the fiddle alone.