The Fairy Fiddler
The father thought over many plans, but never came upon the right one. He did not know that they were the same tribe which had before carried away his wife when she was an infant. If he had, they might have done something sooner.
At length, one night, towards the close of seven years, about twelve o’clock, Colin suddenly opened his eyes, for he had been fast asleep and dreaming, and saw a few grotesque figures which he thought he must have seen before, dancing on the floor between him and the nearly extinguished fire. One of them had a violin, but when Colin first saw him he was not playing. Another of them was singing, and thus keeping the dance in time. This was what he sang, evidently addressed to the fiddler, who stood in the centre of the dance:—
“Peterkin, Peterkin, tall and thin, What have you done with his cheek and his chin? What have you done with his ear and his eye? Hearken, hearken, and hear him cry.”
Here Peterkin put his fiddle to his neck, and drew from it a wail just like the cry of a child, at which the dancers danced more furiously. Then he went on playing the tune the other had just sung, in accompaniment to his own reply:—
“Silversnout, Silversnout, short and stout, I have cut them off and plucked them out, And salted them down in the Kelpie’s Pool, Because papa Colin is such a fool.”
Then the fiddle cried like a child again, and they danced more wildly than ever.