them was a wide ditch, so that his
jailers were right in thinking escape impossible. Yet 'impossible' is an
unknown word to some men, and the Count was one of these.

He bent down caressingly over his horse's mane, and whispered some words
in his ear. Whether the good beast really understood or not cannot be
said, but the next minute there was a rapid gallop across the courtyard.
The Count dug his spurs deeply into the sides of his steed, and the
latter, with a supreme effort, bounded up, and reached the wide brim of
the castle wall. An instant's pause, and he had leaped the wide ditch,
and in a few seconds more both horse and rider were out of reach of all
pursuers.

This story _must_ be true, say the Nuremberg people, for there stands
the print of the horseshoe on the wall to this day!

THE MUSIC OF THE NATIONS.

VI.--THE SOUNG, OR BOAT-SHAPED HARP OF THE BURMESE, AND ARPA OR DRUM OF
OCEANA.

[Illustration]

All the world over, tradition tells of harp-shaped instruments, usually
played by mysterious harpists in the cool depths of river or ocean. In
Scandinavian lore, Odin, under the name of Nikarr, was wont to play on a
harp in his home beneath the sea, and from time to time allowed one or
more of his spirits to rise through the waters and teach mortals the
strains of another world.

[Illustration: The Burmese Soung.]

According to Finnish mythology, a god invented the five-stringed harp
called 'Kantele,' which was for many centuries the national instrument
of Finland. His materials were simple--the bones of a pike, with teeth
of the same for tuning pegs, and hair from the tail of a spirited horse
for strings. Alas! that harp fell into the sea and was swept away, and
so the inventive god set to work to make another, this time of birchwood
with pegs of oak, strung with the silky hair of a very young girl. This
completed, he sat down to play, with magical results. Wild beasts became
tame, birds flocked from the air, fishes from the sea, to hear the
wonderful sounds; brooks paused on their way and winds held their breath
to listen. Women began to cry, then men followed their example, and at
last the god himself wept, and his tears fell into the sea, changing on
their way to beautiful pearls.

According to Greek mythology, Hermes made a lyre, which is a kind of
harp, out of the shell of a tortoise, and on a vase in the Museum at
Munich is a figure of Polyhymnia playing a harp with thirteen strings,
of