andered for the entire day,
until the sun's rays came aslant through the trunks of the trees, when
at last I emerged on a little grassy vale shut in by the mountains and
gay with red and yellow flowers, above which myriads of butterflies
were fluttering in the golden light of the setting sun. It was as
secluded here as though the world had been hundreds of miles away. The
crickets chirped, and a shepherd lad lying among the tall grasses blew
so melancholy an air upon his horn that it was enough to break one's
heart. "Yes," thought I to myself, "who has as happy a lot as a lazy
lout! Some of us, though, have to wander about among strangers, and be
always on the go." As a lovely, clear stream separated me from him,
I called to him to ask where the nearest village was. But he did not
disturb himself to reply--only stretched his head a little out of the
grass, pointed with his horn to the opposite wood, and coolly resumed
his piping.

I marched on briskly, for twilight was at hand. The birds, which had
made a great clatter while the sun was disappearing on the horizon,
suddenly fell silent, and I began to feel almost afraid, so solemn
was the perpetual rustling of the lonely forest. At last I heard dogs
barking in the distance. I walked more quickly, the forest grew less
and less dense, and in a little while I saw through the last trees a
beautiful village-green, where a crowd of children were frolicking,
and capering around a huge linden in the centre. Opposite me was an
inn, and at a table before it were seated some peasants playing cards
and smoking. On one side a number of lads and lasses were gathered
in a group, the girls with their arms rolled in their aprons, and all
gossiping together in the cool of the evening.

I took very little time for consideration, but, drawing my fiddle from
my pocket, I played a merry waltz as I came out from the forest. The
girls were surprised, and the old folks laughed so that the woods
reechoed with their merriment. But when I reached the linden, and,
leaning my back against it, went on playing gay waltzes, a whisper
went round among the groups of young people to the right and left; the
lads laid aside their pipes, each put his arm around his lass's waist,
and in the twinkling of an eye the young folk were all waltzing around
me; the dogs barked, skirts and coat-tails fluttered, and the children
stood around me in a circle gazing curiously into my face and at my
briskly-moving finger