The Tale of the Fiddle

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This clearly told legend opens at the home of a woodsman, a little vine-clad cottage in the midst of a dense forest, with a wonderfully pictured view of happy home life as the father and his three stalwart sons and beautiful daughter shout cheery farewells to the mother before making their way by grass covered paths to the portion of the forest in which their day's work lies. When the morning is partly spent the old man sends his daughter for drinking water to a stream some distance in the forest. Here she is captured by a mad man of the woods, who, despite her struggles and cries, carries her far up into the hills before her screams are heard by a young nobleman from a nearby castle. After a short, but fierce struggle he rescues the maid, and with her thanks gains also her love. On the following day she takes flowers to him, only to find he is paying ardent court to a fair dame of the castle, while the lowers he carries forthwith to his lady. Loneliness, sorrow and great jealousy take possession of her heart. In order to be alone to think out the reason for these great troubles she wanders to an old cemetery. Her deep melancholy and agony of longing make her an easy victim of Satan, who now appears, and offers to give her the love of the young nobleman, which she so deeply desires, for one year, if she will sacrifice her mother and father and brothers and at the end of the year's pleasure give him all rights over her soul. So great is her love that she agrees to this compact. Satan builds her a magic fiddle from the bodies of her family. Through its magic power she gains the great love she has sought so ardently, but at the expiration of the year, when Satan comes to claim his fee, she is haunted by the spirits of her family and suffers intense pain at the loss of her sweetheart.