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Once upon
a time...
There lived a poor man who had more children than bread to
feed them with. However, they were strong and willing, and soon
learned to make themselves of use to their father and mother, and
when they were old enough they went out to service, and everyone was
very glad to get them for servants, for they worked hard and were
always cheerful. Out of all the ten or eleven, there was only one
who gave his parents any trouble, and this was a big lazy boy whose
name was Tiidu. Neither scoldings nor beatings nor kind words had
any effect on him, and the older he grew the idler he got. He spent
his winters crouching close to a warm stove, and his summers asleep
under a shady tree; and if he was not doing either of these things
he was playing tunes on his flute.
One day he was sitting under a bush playing so sweetly that you
might easily have mistaken the notes for those of a bird, when an
old man passed by. 'What trade do you wish to follow, my son?' he
asked in a friendly voice, stopping as he did so in front of the
youth.
'If I were only a rich man, and had no need to work,' replied the
boy, 'I should not follow any. I could not bear to be anybody's
servant, as all my brothers and sisters are.'
The old man laughed as he heard this answer, and said: 'But I do not
exactly see where your riches are to come from if you do not work
for them. Sleeping cats catch no mice. He who wishes to become rich
must use either his hands or his head, and be ready to toil night
and day, or else--'
But here the youth broke in rudely:
'Be silent, old man! I have been told all that a hundred times over;
and it runs off me like water off a duck's back. No one will ever
make a worker out of me.'
'You have one gift,' replied the old man, taking no notice of this
speech, 'and if you would only go about and play the pipes, you
would easily earn, not only your daily bread, but a little money
into the bargain. Listen to me; get yourself a set of pipes, and
learn to play on them as well as you do on your flute, and wherever
there are men to hear you, I promise you will never lack money.'
'But where am I to get the pipes from?' asked the youth.
'Blow on your flute for a few days,' replied the old man, 'and you
will soon be able to buy your pipes. By-and-by I will come back
again and see if you have taken my advice, and whether you are
likely to grow rich.' And so saying he went his way.
Tiidu stayed where he was a little longer, thinking of all the old
man had told him, and the more he thought the surer he felt that the
old man was right. He determined to try whether his plan would
really bring luck; but as he did not like being laughed at he
resolved not to tell anyone a word about it. So next morning he left
home--and never came back! His parents did not take his loss much to
heart, but were rather glad that their useless son had for once
shown a little spirit, and they hoped that time and hardship might
cure Tiidu of his idle folly.
For some weeks Tiidu wandered from one village to another, and
proved for himself the truth of the old man's promise. The people he
met were all friendly and kind, and enjoyed his flute-playing,
giving him his food in return, and even a few pence. These pence the
youth hoarded carefully till he had collected enough to buy a
beautiful pair of pipes. Then he felt himself indeed on the high
road to riches. Nowhere could pipes be found as fine as his, or
played in so masterly a manner. Tiidu's pipes set everybody's legs
dancing. Wherever there was a marriage, a christening, or a feast of
any kind, Tiidu must be there, or the evening would be a failure. In
a few years he had become so noted a piper that people would travel
far and wide to hear him.
One day he was invited to a christening where many rich men from the
neighbouring town were present, and all agreed that never in all
their lives had they heard such playing as his. They crowded round
him, and praised him, and pressed him to come to their homes,
declaring that it was a shame not to give their friends the chance
of hearing such music. Of course all this delighted Tiidu, who
accepted gladly, and left their houses laden with money and presents
of every kind; one great lord clothed him in a magnificent dress, a
second hung a chain of pearls round his neck, while a third handed
him a set of new pipes encrusted in silver. As for the ladies, the
girls twisted silken scarves round his plumed hat, and their mothers
knitted him gloves of all colours, to keep out the cold. Any other
man in Tiidu's place would have been contented and happy in this
life; but his craving for riches gave him no rest, and only goaded
him day by day to fresh exertions, so that even his own mother would
not have known him for the lazy boy who was always lying asleep in
one place or the other.
Now Tiidu saw quite clearly that he could only hope to become rich
by means of his pipes, and set about thinking if there was nothing
he could do to make the money flow in faster. At length he
remembered having heard some stories of a kingdom in the Kungla
country, where musicians of all sorts were welcomed and highly paid;
but where it was, or how it was reached, he could not recollect,
however hard he thought. In despair, he wandered along the coast,
hoping to see some ship or sailing boat that would take him where he
wished to go, and at length he reached the town of Narva, where
several merchantmen were lying at anchor. To his great joy, he found
that one of them was sailing for Kungla in a few days, and he
hastily went on board, and asked for the captain. But the cost of
the passage was more than the prudent Tiidu cared to pay, and though
he played his best on his pipes, the captain refused to lower his
price, and Tiidu was just thinking of returning on shore when his
usual luck flew to his aid. A young sailor, who had heard him play,
came secretly to him, and offered to hide him on board, in the
absence of the captain. So the next night, as soon as it was dark,
Tiidu stepped softly on deck, and was hidden by his friend down in
the hold in a corner between two casks. Unseen by the rest of the
crew the sailor managed to bring him food and drink, and when they
were well out of sight of land he proceeded to carry out a plan he
had invented to deliver Tiidu from his cramped quarters. At
midnight, while he was keeping watch and everyone else was sleeping,
the man bade his friend Tiidu follow him on deck, where he tied a
rope round Tiidu's body, fastening the other end carefully to one of
the ship's ropes. 'Now,' he said, 'I will throw you into the sea,
and you must shout for help; and when you see the sailors coming
untie the rope from your waist, and tell them that you have swum
after the ship all the way from shore.'
At first Tiidu did not much like this scheme, for the sea ran high,
but he was a good swimmer, and the sailor assured him that there was
no danger. As soon as he was in the water, his friend hastened to
rouse his mates, declaring that he was sure that there was a man in
the sea, following the ship. They all came on deck, and what was
their surprise when they recognised the person who had bargained
about a passage the previous day with the captain.
'Are you a ghost, or a dying man?' they asked him trembling, as they
stooped over the side of the ship.
'I shall soon indeed be a dead man if you do not help me,' answered
Tiidu, 'for my strength is going fast.'
Then the captain seized a rope and flung it out to him, and Tiidu
held it between his teeth, while, unseen by the sailors; he loosed
the one tied round his waist.
'Where have you come from?' said the captain, when Tiidu was brought
up on board the ship.
'I have followed you from the harbour,' answered he, 'and have been
often in sore dread lest my strength should fail me. I hoped that by
swimming after the ship I might at last reach Kungla, as I had no
money to pay my passage.' The captain's heart melted at these words,
and he said kindly: 'You may be thankful that you were not drowned.
I will land you at Kungla free of payment, as you are so anxious to
get there. So he gave him dry clothes to wear, and a berth to sleep
in, and Tiidu and his friend secretly made merry over their cunning
trick.
For the rest of the voyage the ship's crew treated Tiidu as
something higher than themselves, seeing that in all their lives
they had never met with any man that could swim for as many hours as
he had done. This pleased Tiidu very much, though he knew that he
had really done nothing to deserve it, and in return he delighted
them by tunes on his pipes. When, after some days, they cast anchor
at Kungla, the story of his wonderful swim brought him many friends,
for everybody wished to hear him tell the tale himself. This might
have been all very well, had not Tiidu lived in dread that some day
he would be asked to give proof of his marvellous swimming powers,
and then everything would be found out. Meanwhile he was dazzled
with the splendour around him, and more than ever he longed for part
of the riches, about which the owners seemed to care so little.
He wandered through the streets for many days, seeking some one who
wanted a servant; but though more than one person would have been
glad to engage him, they seemed to Tiidu not the sort of people to
help him to get rich quickly. At last, when he had almost made up
his mind that he must accept the next place offered him, he happened
to knock at the door of a rich merchant who was in need of a
scullion, and gladly agreed to do the cook's bidding, and it was in
this merchant's house that he first learned how great were the
riches of the land of Kungla. All the vessels which in other
countries are made of iron, copper, brass, or tin, in Kungla were
made of silver, or even of gold. The food was cooked in silver
saucepans, the bread baked in a silver oven, while the dishes and
their covers were all of gold. Even the very pigs' troughs were of
silver too. But the sight of these things only made Tiidu more
covetous than before. 'What is the use of all this wealth that I
have constantly before my eyes,' thought he, 'if none of it is mine?
I shall never grow rich by what I earn as a scullion, even though I
am paid as much in a month as I should get elsewhere in a year.'
By this time he had been in his place for two years, and had put by
quite a large sum of money. His passion of saving had increased to
such a pitch that it was only by his master's orders that he ever
bought any new clothes, 'For,' said the merchant, 'I will not have
dirty people in my house.' So with a heavy heart Tiidu spent some of
his next month's wages on a cheap coat.
One day the merchant held a great feast in honour of the christening
of his youngest child, and he gave each of his servants a handsome
garment for the occasion. The following Sunday, Tiidu, who liked
fine clothes when he did not have to pay for them, put on his new
coat, and went for a walk to some beautiful pleasure gardens, which
were always full of people on a sunny day. He sat down under a shady
tree, and watched the passers-by, but after a little he began to
feel rather lonely, for he knew nobody and nobody knew him. Suddenly
his eyes fell on the figure of an old man, which seemed familiar to
him, though he could not tell when or where he had seen it. He
watched the figure for some time, till at length the old man left
the crowded paths, and threw himself on the soft grass under a lime
tree, which stood at some distance from where Tiidu was sitting.
Then the young man walked slowly past, in order that he might look
at him more closely, and as he did so the old man smiled, and held
out his hand.
'What have you done with your pipes?' asked he; and then in a moment
Tiidu knew him. Taking his arm he drew him into a quiet place and
told him all that had happened since they had last met. The old man
shook his head as he listened, and when Tiidu had finished his tale,
he said: 'A fool you are, and a fool you will always be! Was there
ever such a piece of folly as to exchange your pipes for a
scullion's ladle? You could have made as much by the pipes in a day
as your wages would have come to in half a year. Go home and fetch
your pipes, and play them here, and you will soon see if I have
spoken the truth.'
Tiidu did not like this advice--he was afraid that the people would
laugh at him; and, besides, it was long since he had touched his
pipes--but the old man persisted, and at last Tiidu did as he was
told.
'Sit down on the bank by me,' said the old man, when he came back,
'and begin to play, and in a little while the people will flock
round you.' Tiidu obeyed, at first without much heart; but somehow
the tone of the pipes was sweeter than he had remembered, and as he
played, the crowd ceased to walk and chatter, and stood still and
silent round him. When he had played for some time he took off his
hat and passed it round, and dollars, and small silver coins, and
even gold pieces, came tumbling in. Tiidu played a couple more tunes
by way of thanks, then turned to go home, hearing on all sides
murmurs of 'What a wonderful piper! Come back, we pray you, next
Sunday to give us another treat.'
'What did I tell you?' said the old man, as they passed through the
garden gate. 'Was it not pleasanter to play for a couple of hours on
the pipes than to be stirring sauces all day long? For the second
time I have shown you the path to follow; try to learn wisdom, and
take the bull by the horns, lest your luck should slip from you! I
can be your guide no longer, therefore listen to what I say, and
obey me. Go every Sunday afternoon to those gardens; and sit under
the lime tree and play to the people, and bring a felt hat with a
deep crown, and lay it on the ground at your feet, so that everyone
can throw some money into it. If you are invited to play at a feast,
accept willingly, but beware of asking a fixed price; say you will
take whatever they may feel inclined to give. You will get far more
money in the end. Perhaps, some day, our paths may cross, and then I
shall see how far you have followed my advice. Till then, farewell';
and the old man went his way.
As before, his words came true, though Tiidu could not at once do
his bidding, as he had first to fulfil his appointed time of
service. Meanwhile he ordered some fine clothes, in which he played
every Sunday in the gardens, and when he counted his gains in the
evening they were always more than on the Sunday before. At length
he was free to do as he liked, and he had more invitations to play
than he could manage to accept, and at night, when the citizens used
to go and drink in the inn, the landlord always begged Tiidu to come
and play to them. Thus he grew so rich that very soon he had his
silver pipes covered with gold, so that they glistened in the light
of the sun or the fire. In all Kungla there was no prouder man than
Tiidu.
In a few years he had saved such a large sum of money that he was
considered a rich man even in Kungla, where everybody was rich. And
then he had leisure to remember that he had once had a home, and a
family, and that he should like to see them both again, and show
them how well he could play. This time he would not need to hide in
the ship's hold, but could hire the best cabin if he wished to, or
even have a vessel all to himself. So he packed all his treasures in
large chests, and sent them on board the first ship that was sailing
to his native land, and followed them with a light heart. The wind
at starting was fair, but it soon freshened, and in the night rose
to a gale. For two days they ran before it, and hoped that by
keeping well out to sea they might be able to weather the storm,
when, suddenly, the ship struck on a rock, and began to fill. Orders
were given to lower the boats, and Tiidu with three sailors got into
one of them, but before they could push away from the ship a huge
wave overturned it, and all four were flung into the water. Luckily
for Tiidu an oar was floating near him, and with its help he was
able to keep on the surface of the water; and when the sun rose, and
the mist cleared away, he saw that he was not far from shore. By
hard swimming, for the sea still ran high, he managed to reach it,
and pulled himself out of the water, more dead than alive. Then he
flung himself down on the ground and fell fast asleep.
When he awoke he got up to explore the island, and see if there were
any men upon it; but though he found streams and fruit trees in
abundance, there was no trace either of man or beast. Then, tired
with his wanderings he sat down and began to think.
For perhaps the first time in his life his thoughts did not
instantly turn to money. It was not on his lost treasures that his
mind dwelt, but on his conduct to his parents: his laziness and
disobedience as a boy; his forgetfulness of them as a man. 'If wild
animals were to come and tear me to pieces,' he said to himself
bitterly, 'it would be only what I deserve! My gains are all at the
bottom of the sea--well! lightly won, lightly lost--but it is odd
that I feel I should not care for that if only my pipes were left
me.' Then he rose and walked a little further, till he saw a tree
with great red apples shining amidst the leaves, and he pulled some
down, and ate them greedily. After that he stretched himself out on
the soft moss and went to sleep.
In the morning he ran to the nearest stream to wash himself, but to
his horror, when he caught sight of his face, he saw his nose had
grown the colour of an apple, and reached nearly to his waist. He
started back thinking he was dreaming, and put up his hand; but,
alas! the dreadful thing was true. 'Oh, why does not some wild beast
devour me?' he cried to himself; 'never, never, can I go again
amongst my fellow-men! If only the sea had swallowed me up, how much
happier it had been for me!' And he hid his head in his hands and
wept. His grief was so violent, that it exhausted him, and growing
hungry he looked about for something to eat. Just above him was a
bough of ripe, brown nuts, end he picked them and ate a handful. To
his surprise, as he was eating them, he felt his nose grow shorter
and shorter, and after a while he ventured to feel it with his hand,
and even to look in the stream again! Yes, there was no mistake, it
was as short as before, or perhaps a little shorter. In his joy at
this discovery Tiidu did a very bold thing. He took one of the
apples out of his pocket, and cautiously bit a piece out of it. In
an instant his nose was as long as his chin, and in a deadly fear
lest it should stretch further, he hastily swallowed a nut, and
awaited the result with terror. Supposing that the shrinking of his
nose had only been an accident before! Supposing that that nut and
no other was able to cause its shrinking! In that case he had, by
his own folly, in not letting well alone, ruined his life
completely. But, no! he had guessed rightly, for in no more time
than his nose had taken to grow long did it take to return to its
proper size. 'This may make my fortune,' he said joyfully to
himself; and he gathered some of the apples, which he put into one
pocket, and a good supply of nuts which he put into the other. Next
day he wove a basket out of some rushes, so that if he ever left the
island he might be able to carry his treasures about.
That night he dreamed that his friend the old man appeared to him
and said: 'Because you did not mourn for your lost treasure, but
only for your pipes, I will give you a new set to replace them.'
And, behold! in the morning when he got up a set of pipes was lying
in the basket. With what joy did he seize them and begin one of his
favourite tunes; and as he played hope sprang up in his heart, and
he looked out to sea, to try to detect the sign of a sail. Yes!
there it was, making straight for the island; and Tiidu, holding his
pipes in his hand, dashed down to the shore.
The sailors knew the island to be uninhabited, and were much
surprised to see a man standing on the beach, waving his arms in
welcome to them. A boat was put off, and two sailors rowed to the
shore to discover how he came there, and if he wished to be taken
away. Tiidu told them the story of his shipwreck, and the captain
promised that he should come on board, and sail with them back to
Kungla; and thankful indeed was Tiidu to accept the offer, and to
show his gratitude by playing on his pipes whenever he was asked to
do so.
They had a quick voyage, and it was not long before Tiidu found
himself again in the streets of the capital of Kungla, playing as he
went along. The people had heard no music like his since he went
away, and they crowded round him, and in their joy gave him whatever
money they had in their pockets. His first care was to buy himself
some new clothes, which he sadly needed, taking care, however, that
they should be made after a foreign fashion. When they were ready,
he set out one day with a small basket of his famous apples, and
went up to the palace. He did not have to wait long before one of
the royal servants passed by and bought all the apples, begging as
he did so that the merchant should return and bring some more. This
Tiidu promised, and hastened away as if he had a mad bull behind
him, so afraid was he that the man should begin to eat an apple at
once.
It is needless to say that for some days he took no more apples back
to the palace, but kept well away on the other side of the town,
wearing other clothes, and disguised by a long black beard, so that
even his own mother would not have known him.
The morning after his visit to the castle the whole city was in an
uproar about the dreadful misfortune that had happened to the Royal
Family, for not only the king but his wife and children, had eaten
of the stranger's apples, and all, so said the rumour, were very
ill. The most famous doctors and the greatest magicians were hastily
summoned to the palace, but they shook their heads and came away
again; never had they met with such a disease in all the course of
their experience. By-and-bye a story went round the town, started no
one knew how, that the malady was in some way connected with the
nose; and men rubbed their own anxiously, to be sure that nothing
catching was in the air.
Matters had been in this state for more than a week when it reached
the ears of the king that a man was living in an inn on the other
side of the town who declared himself able to cure all manner of
diseases. Instantly the royal carriage was commanded to drive with
all speed and bring back this magician, offering him riches untold
if he could restore their noses to their former length. Tiidu had
expected this summons, and had sat up all night changing his
appearance, and so well had he succeeded that not a trace remained
either of the piper or of the apple seller. He stepped into the
carriage, and was driven post haste to the king, who was feverishly
counting every moment, for both his nose and the queen's were by
this time more than a yard long, and they did not know where they
would stop.
Now Tiidu thought it would not look well to cure the royal family by
giving them the raw nuts; he felt that it might arouse suspicion. So
he had carefully pounded them into a powder, and divided the powder
up into small doses, which were to be put on the tongue and
swallowed at once. He gave one of these to the king and another to
the queen, and told them that before taking them they were to get
into bed in a dark room and not to move for some hours, after which
they might be sure that they would come out cured.
The king's joy was so great at this news that he would gladly have
given Tiidu half of his kingdom; but the piper was no longer so
greedy of money as he once was, before he had been shipwrecked on
the island. If he could get enough to buy a small estate and live
comfortably on it for the rest of his life, that was all he now
cared for. However, the king ordered his treasure to pay him three
times as much as he asked, and with this Tiidu went down to the
harbour and engaged a small ship to carry him back to his native
country. The wind was fair, and in ten days the coast, which he had
almost forgotten, stood clear before him. In a few hours he was
standing in his old home, where his father, three sisters, and two
brothers gave him a hearty welcome. His mother and his other
brothers had died some years before.
When the meeting was over, he began to make inquiries about a small
estate that was for sale near the town, and after he had bought it
the next thing was to find a wife to share it with him. This did not
take long either; and people who were at the wedding feast declared
that the best part of the whole day was the hour when Tiidu played
to them on the pipes before they bade each other farewell and
returned to their homes.
Tiidu the Piper
from the Crimson Fairy Book
Story Edited
by Andrew Lang |
