t quarrels and brawls, which
in those days were common enough in Norway, were rare wherever Nils
played.

It seemed as if his calm and gentle presence called forth all that
was good in the feasters and banished whatever was evil. Such was his
popularity that he earned more money by his fiddling in a week than his
father had ever done by charcoal-burning in a month.

A half-superstitious regard for him became general among the people;
first, because it seemed impossible that any man could play as he did
without the aid of some supernatural power; and secondly, because his
gentle demeanor and quaint, terse sayings inspired them with admiration.
It was difficult to tell by whom the name, Wise Nils, was first started,
but it was felt by all to be appropriate, and it therefore clung to the
modest fiddler, in spite of all his protests.

Before he was twenty-five years old it became the fashion to go to him
and consult him in difficult situations; and though he long shrank from
giving advice, his reluctance wore away, when it became evident to him
that he could actually benefit the people.

There was nothing mysterious in his counsel. All he said was as clear
and rational as the day-light. But the good folk were nevertheless
inclined to attribute a higher authority to him; and would desist from
vice or folly for his sake, when they would not for their own sake. It
was odd, indeed: this Wise Nils, the fiddler, became a great man in the
valley, and his renown went abroad and brought him visitors, seeking
his counsel, from distant parishes. Rarely did anyone leave him
disappointed, or at least without being benefited by his sympathetic
advice.

One summer, during the tourist season, a famous foreign musician came
to Norway, accompanied by a rich American gentleman. While in his
neighborhood, they heard the story of the rustic fiddler, and became
naturally curious to see him.

They accordingly went to his cottage, in order to have some sport with
him, for they expected to find a vain and ignorant charlatan, inflated
by the flattery of his more ignorant neighbors. But Nils received them
with a simple dignity which quite disarmed them. They had come to mock;
they stayed to admire. This peasant's artless speech, made up of ancient
proverbs and shrewd common-sense, and instinct with a certain sunny
beneficence, impressed them wonderfully.

And when, at their request, he played some of his improvisations, the
renowned musician