s related that often betimes when he arrived at a village,
the word would be passed and the whole population would quit work and
caper on the green. So luring was his fiddle, and so potent his voice in
song and story, that in a few instances preachers with long faces
warned their flocks against him; and once we find a country Dogberry had
his minions lay the innocent Hans by the heels and give him a taste of
the stocks, simply because he seduced a party of haymakers into
following him off to a dance at a tavern, and in the meantime a storm
coming up, the hay got wet. Poor Hans protested that he had nothing to
do with the storm, but his excuses were construed as proof of guilt and
went for naught.

At last in his wanderings, Hans found a buxom lass who was willing to
take him for better or worse.

And they were married and lived happily ever after, or fairly so.

This marriage quite sobered the fun-loving fiddler, so that he settled
down and worked at his weaving; and at odd hours made himself a bass
viol that looked to be father of all the fiddles. In Eisenach I was told
that this viol was ten feet high. Hans used to play this instrument at
the village church, and his playing drew such crowds that the preacher
had just cause for jealousy, and improved the opportunity, yet stifling
his rage he ordered the verger to lock the doors and allow no one to
depart until after the sermon and collection.

A goodly family was born to Hans and his worthy wife, and all were
trained in music, so that an orchestra was formed, made up of the
father, mother, and boys and girls. All the instruments used were made
by Hans, and these included marvelous fiddles, some with one string and
others with twenty; wooden wind-instruments like flutes, and drums to
match the players, some of whom were wee toddlers. It is said that the
music this orchestra made was more or less unique.

The best part of all this musical exploitation of Hans was that one of
his boys, Heinrich by name, applied himself so diligently to the art
that he became the organist in the village church, and then he was
called to play the great organ at Arnstadt. Heinrich was not a roisterer
like his father: he was a man of education and dignity. He composed many
pieces, and trained his choruses so well that his fame went abroad as
the chief musician of all Thuringia. He held his position at Arnstadt
for fifty years, and died in Sixteen Hundred Ninety-two, at which time
Johann