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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40608 ***
+
+ MITZ AND FRITZ
+ OF GERMANY
+
+
+
+ [Illustration: RHEINSTEIN CASTLE PERCHED HIGH ON THE
+ WOODED BANKS OF THE RHINE]
+
+
+
+ MITZ _and_ FRITZ
+ _of_ GERMANY
+
+ BY
+ MADELINE BRANDEIS
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+ _Photographic Illustrations_
+
+ [Illustration]
+
+ GROSSET & DUNLAP
+ PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
+ _by arrangement with the A. Flanagan Company_
+
+
+
+ COPYRIGHT, 1933, BY A. FLANAGAN COMPANY
+
+ PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+
+
+
+ LOVINGLY DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF MY DEAR FATHER WHO
+ WAS GERMAN-TRAINED AND GERMAN-SCHOOLED, BUT SO DIFFERENT
+ IN UNDERSTANDING FROM THE FATHER OF MITZ AND FRITZ
+
+ [Signature: Madeline Brandeis]
+
+
+
+ THE PICTURES IN THIS BOOK
+
+ were taken in Germany! That is, the pictures of cities and
+ churches and parks were taken there. But Mitz and Fritz and
+ Mr. and Mrs. Toymaker were not.
+
+ These characters are played by my good actor friends. You
+ have seen them all on the screen. But never before did you
+ see:
+
+ Mitzi Green as Mitzi Toymaker
+ Jackie Searle as Fritz Toymaker
+ Herta Reinach as Mrs. Toymaker
+ James Guilfoyle as Mr. Toymaker
+
+ Those are the parts they play in this book.
+
+ And then, a musician friend helped me, too. What more
+ could one ask than to have as the music master such a
+ great violinist as Alexander Zukovsky?
+
+ I am grateful to all these kind people.
+
+ [Signature: Madeline Brandeis]
+
+ Oh, dear! I almost forgot to be grateful to my dog friend,
+ Koopsak, who posed as Frankfurter!
+
+ Some of the photographs in this book are used through the
+ courtesy of the German Tourist Information Office, N. Y.,
+ and the Hamburg American Line.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+ PAGE
+
+ Chapter I
+
+ "Foolish Fritz" 9
+
+ Chapter II
+
+ The Toymakers 22
+
+ Chapter III
+
+ Goodbye to Nuremberg 33
+
+ Chapter IV
+
+ Bayreuth and a Plan 39
+
+ Chapter V
+
+ Along the Road Chapter 49
+
+ Chapter VI
+
+ Mainz and a Beggar 55
+
+ Chapter VII
+
+ Down the Rhine and Troubles 61
+
+ Chapter VIII
+
+ Bonn and Beethoven 75
+
+ Chapter IX
+
+ Mitzi in Hamelin 82
+
+ Chapter X
+
+ Ströbeck and Disgrace 91
+
+ Chapter XI
+
+ Eisenach and Bach 101
+
+ Chapter XII
+
+ A Castle and the Poet City 108
+
+ Chapter XIII
+
+ The Leipzig Fair 117
+
+ Chapter XIV
+
+ The Concert 124
+
+ Chapter XV
+
+ Fritz and His Violin 134
+
+ Chapter XVI
+
+ The Pied Piper 141
+
+ Chapter XVII
+
+ The Music Master 146
+
+ Chapter XVIII
+
+ Berlin and Happiness 154
+
+ Pronouncing Vocabulary 159
+
+
+
+
+LIST of ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+ PAGE
+
+ RHEINSTEIN CASTLE PERCHED HIGH ON THE WOODED
+ BANKS OF THE RHINE 2
+
+ Handwritten signature: Madeline Brandeis 5
+
+ Handwritten signature: Madeline Brandeis 6
+
+ LITTLE MITZ AND FRITZ OF GERMANY 8
+
+ FRITZ 11
+
+ "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" 12
+
+ GAVE A PIECE OF MEAT TO FRANK 14
+
+ MITZI SMILED AT THE PRETTY MUSIC 15
+
+ MITZI 17
+
+ HER EYES POPPED 20
+
+ HIS EYES WERE FULL OF TEARS 23
+
+ MR. TOYMAKER 25
+
+ EATING PICKLES 27
+
+ A TOY SHOP IN NUREMBERG 28
+
+ MRS. TOYMAKER 30
+
+ CHURCH OF OUR LADY--NUREMBERG 32
+
+ A HOUSE IN NUREMBERG 37
+
+ HOME OF RICHARD WAGNER--BAYREUTH 40
+
+ CHILDREN PLAYING AT THE FESTIVAL 41
+
+ THE SCHUHPLATTLER, A NATIVE FOLK DANCE
+ OF THE BAVARIAN MOUNTAINS 42
+
+ MARKET PLACE--BAYREUTH 44
+
+ GROUP OF HIKERS ON THE MARCH 50
+
+ AN OLD CASTLE MADE INTO AN INN FOR HIKERS 51
+
+ KASSEL; OLD STREET IN THE "GRIMM QUARTER" 53
+
+ SABABURG CASTLE IN THE GERMAN FAIRY TALE
+ FOREST NEAR KASSEL IS THE PALACE OF SLEEPING
+ BEAUTY AND BLUEBEARD FAME 54
+
+ MAINZ 56
+
+ THE GENERAL 57
+
+ CATHEDRAL AT MAINZ 59
+
+ STOLZENFELS CASTLE ON THE RHINE 62
+
+ THE MOUSE TOWER OF BINGEN ON THE RHINE 64
+
+ THE ROCK OF THE LORELEI 66
+
+ THE JUNCTION OF THE RHINE AND MOSELLE RIVERS
+ IN COBLENZ 68
+
+ "SEE, FATHER!" 71
+
+ "FRITZ HAS STOLEN THE MONEY!" 72
+
+ "THEY MUST OBEY!" 73
+
+ BONN 76
+
+ "DO NOT LOOK SO SAD" 77
+
+ BIRTHPLACE OF BEETHOVEN--BONN 79
+
+ THE RAT-CATCHER'S HOUSE--HAMELIN 83
+
+ PIPED UPON HER SAUSAGE 84
+
+ BEGAN TO EAT HER PIPE 86
+
+ "WAKE UP, YOU SILLY" 88
+
+ ONLY FRITZ, FRANK, AND MOTHER 89
+
+ A BAVARIAN MOUNTAIN VILLAGE 92
+
+ CHILDREN CARRY CHESSBOARDS TO SCHOOL 94
+
+ CHILDREN PLAYING CHESS 95
+
+ MITZ LOOKED CROOKED 97
+
+ "YOU NAUGHTY LITTLE GIRL" 99
+
+ EISENACH 102
+
+ "LET ME TRY IT ON" 103
+
+ THE HOME OF BACH IN EISENACH 105
+
+ WARTBURG CASTLE 109
+
+ STATUE OF GOETHE IN LEIPZIG 111
+
+ STATUE OF MENDELSSOHN IN LEIPZIG 113
+
+ A CHURCH IN LEIPZIG 116
+
+ LEIPZIG 119
+
+ LEIPZIG 121
+
+ THE PARK IN LEIPZIG 125
+
+ MITZI WAS HAPPY 126
+
+ FRITZ PLAYED 130
+
+ STOOD ON HER HEAD 132
+
+ "GIVE ME THE VIOLIN" 137
+
+ "PLEASE, FATHER" 139
+
+ "YOU MUST LEARN TO HELP OTHERS" 140
+
+ SAT UPON THE STEPS OF THEIR WAGON 143
+
+ "HERE IS YOUR SON!" 147
+
+ "HE STANDS LIKE THIS" 150
+
+ THE BRANDENBURG GATE IN BERLIN 155
+
+ UNTER DEN LINDEN IN BERLIN 156
+
+ THEY WERE GOING TO LIKE BERLIN 158
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: LITTLE MITZ AND FRITZ OF GERMANY]
+
+
+
+
+Mitz and Fritz of Germany
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+"FOOLISH FRITZ"
+
+
+Toys! Toys! Toys! All over the room--toys!
+
+It was a big, comfortable room with a work bench in it, and shelves and
+a table full of paints and pots of glue.
+
+On the window seat in a corner sat a girl, a boy, and a dog.
+
+The girl wore a stiff white apron. Her cheeks were rosy and plump. She
+had a saucy look. Her big blue eyes were fixed upon the pages of a book.
+She was reading to the boy. The boy wore a green blouse smeared with
+paint. He was busily carving a wooden elephant. The dog was brown and
+very long. He lay asleep beside the children with his nose on the girl's
+lap.
+
+These are Mitz, Fritz, and Frank. Now you have met them. And this is
+their father's workshop--the workshop of a German toy maker in Nuremberg
+(N[=u]´r[)e]m-bûrg), city of toys.
+
+Mitz was really Mitzi. Fritz was really Frederic. Frank, the dog, was
+really Frankfurter. But the former names were their nicknames.
+
+"So! It is finished at last," said the boy who was Fritz.
+
+He put the wooden elephant on the window sill. He stretched his arms. He
+was younger than his sister, and his cheeks were not so red nor was his
+face so saucy. He had the look of one who dreams--a happy look.
+
+Mitzi cocked her head on one side and examined the elephant.
+
+"It is not so bad," she said. Then she added, "For you!"
+
+[Illustration: FRITZ]
+
+Fritz smiled. His face seemed made for smiling.
+
+"Now, please," he said, "read some more, Mitz."
+
+"Good. I will," answered Mitzi. "But you must carve while I read. Father
+will scold if he comes home and finds you idle."
+
+Fritz began to carve a doll and Mitzi began to read. She read about
+Richard Wagner (Väg´n[~e]r), who was one of the greatest musicians
+that ever lived.
+
+But suddenly she stopped reading and screamed, "Fritz! Fritz! What are
+you doing?"
+
+[Illustration: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"]
+
+Fritz looked down at his work and, behold, he had almost cut off the
+head of a doll he was carving! The poor head was hanging by a splinter.
+
+"Shame, shame! I cannot read to you if you do such things," said Mitzi.
+She started to close the book.
+
+"No, please!" begged Fritz. "I promise I will not do it again. I was
+thinking only of Richard Wagner. I was not looking at the doll."
+
+"Good, then," said Mitzi, "I shall read more if you will not dream
+again."
+
+But before she began to read, she got up and went to a big cupboard.
+From the big cupboard she helped herself to a lovely, thick slice of
+German brown bread. Then she took out a long knife and a long sausage,
+which looked very much like the long dog, Frank. She cut the sausage and
+put pieces of it on the bread and ate it.
+
+"Will you have some?" she asked Fritz.
+
+But her mouth was so full of bread and sausage that her words sounded
+like "Will-awamwam?"
+
+Fritz shook his head. He was trying hard to stick the doll's head back
+into place. Mitzi seated herself on the window sill. She gave a piece
+of meat to Frank, who gobbled it up and promptly fell asleep again. Then
+she began to read.
+
+[Illustration: GAVE A PIECE OF MEAT TO FRANK]
+
+"'One day,'" she read, "'when Richard Wagner was a little boy, he was
+watching some acrobats in the market square. A band was playing and
+Richard listened joyfully. They were playing a selection which he
+liked. It was "The Huntsman's Chorus." Little Richard--' Fritz!"
+
+Again Mitzi screamed and put down the book in horror. The poor wooden
+doll had fallen to the floor. The head had rolled off. But Fritz had not
+noticed it at all. Fritz was reaching for a violin, which lay on a chair
+beside him. He was beginning to play the violin.
+
+[Illustration: MITZI SMILED AT THE PRETTY MUSIC]
+
+"This," he said, "is 'The Huntsman's Chorus.' It is what Richard Wagner
+heard that day and loved."
+
+Mitzi listened. She smiled at the pretty music that Fritz made. She
+could not help smiling.
+
+Often Fritz was very stupid. Often he made her very angry with his
+clumsy, dreamy ways and the mistakes he made. His playmates called him
+"Foolish Fritz." He was forever losing things and forgetting things and
+dropping things, making Mother sigh and Father storm.
+
+But his music! A different thing! Mitzi thought it was the sweetest
+music in all the world. Even Mother, who had taught him all she knew,
+thought it beautiful. But Father? Ah, Father hated it. Fritz must never
+play when Father was around. Father was very severe, and he did not love
+music.
+
+[Illustration: MITZI]
+
+To the strains of "The Huntsman's Chorus" Mitzi nodded her head in time
+as she chewed on her bread and sausage. Frank awoke and gazed wonderingly
+at the boy with the violin. Frank was a dachshund (däks´h[)oo]nt)--a
+"badger dog," in English. At one time, Frank's kind of dog was used to
+hunt badgers. Maybe that is why Frank seemed interested in "The
+Huntsman's Chorus."
+
+Dachshunds are close to the ground, with tiny, crooked legs, and bodies
+that look like frankfurter sausages. Indeed, that is why Frank's real
+name was Frankfurter. All at once, the little dog's body bristled. He
+pricked up his long ears and let out a terrific bark.
+
+Fritz stopped playing. Mitzi stopped eating. They looked up and saw what
+Frank had seen. The wooden elephant had disappeared from the window
+sill. Outside they heard a child crying.
+
+"Give me my toy! I want my toy!" cried the child outside.
+
+Fritz climbed upon his knees and looked out. He saw a large boy trying
+to take the wooden elephant away from a small boy. The younger child was
+crying and pulling at the toy.
+
+"I want it! It's mine! I took it off the window!" he screamed.
+
+But the big boy pushed so hard that the little one fell down on the
+sidewalk.
+
+"It's mine," said the bully. "And don't you try to get it away again or
+I'll push you harder!"
+
+Before Mitzi knew what had happened her brother had darted out of the
+house. Now he was standing before the big boy.
+
+"Give that elephant to me," said Fritz. "It is mine, and you stole it."
+
+"It's mine now," said the boy.
+
+He smiled at Fritz's angry face and soiled workman's blouse. He stood a
+head taller than Fritz.
+
+"If you want it you'll have to take it away from me," he added. He
+started to turn away.
+
+Fritz jumped upon him and with both fists beat him. Fritz pounded and
+hit. The big boy tried to strike back, but Fritz's arms were moving like
+a windmill.
+
+Mitzi stared out of the window. On her open mouth hung neglected crumbs
+of bread. Her eyes popped. Never had she seen her "Foolish Fritz" act
+like this before. He had always been so very gentle and smiling.
+
+[Illustration: HER EYES POPPED]
+
+Frank barked. The child who had been knocked down howled. It was quite a
+scene. But finally Fritz ended it all by giving the big boy one mighty
+push. The bully fell down with a heavy thud upon the sidewalk.
+
+Fritz snatched the wooden elephant out of the older boy's hand. He was
+about to go into his house when there came a terrible scream from the
+little boy.
+
+"Mine! My toy! Ow!" he screamed.
+
+Fritz stopped. He looked at the child, who was very ragged and dirty and
+poor. The youngster's little shoes were torn.
+
+"Here. Take it," said Fritz, handing the elephant to the youngster. "Go
+home, now," he added, "before that great clumsy one snatches it away
+from you again."
+
+The delighted tot ran home. The bully limped away in the opposite
+direction. Fritz rubbed his cheek where the fellow had struck him. Then
+he started to go into the house.
+
+But as he turned, he almost ran into a great burly figure, which had
+planted itself in his way. It was his father!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE TOYMAKERS
+
+
+Mitzi sat upon a high stool in the kitchen, nibbling a radish. Her
+mother was cooking. In the workshop was Fritz being scolded by his
+father.
+
+Mitzi could hear the rumbling voice of the toy maker saying, "How often
+must I tell you to keep your hands off that violin in working hours? If
+you had not been fiddling today, this never would have happened!"
+
+There was a moment's silence, and then Mitzi again heard the angry
+voice: "See! I take the violin away and I hide it! Now you cannot play
+it ever again!"
+
+Mitzi jumped down from her stool. She nearly stepped upon Frank, who
+leaped into the air with his ears waving. She burst into the workshop.
+
+[Illustration: HIS EYES WERE FULL OF TEARS]
+
+"Father!" she cried. "Wait, please!"
+
+The toy maker was holding the violin in his hands, and there were tears
+in Fritz's eyes.
+
+"I asked you to stay out of here, Mitzi," said the toy maker.
+
+"Oh, but, Father," said the little girl, "do not take the violin away.
+Let me have it. I'll keep it. I'll never again allow him to play it
+while he is working."
+
+But still the toy maker held the violin.
+
+Now he turned once more to Fritz and boomed, "Do you think one makes
+toys to be given away to every beggar on the streets? Each time I go
+out, something happens. Toys are ruined or given away or stolen! And all
+the time you must fiddle, fiddle, fiddle!"
+
+"Yes, yes, Father, you are right," agreed clever Mitzi. "Fritz is a
+stupid little donkey! But now it is Mitz who will keep the violin. You
+can trust me, Father. Come! Let me have the violin."
+
+She reached up her chubby hands, and slowly a smile spread over the toy
+maker's red face. The toy maker had a bristly mustache that made him
+look like a fierce walrus. But under all his fierceness he loved his
+children.
+
+[Illustration: MR. TOYMAKER]
+
+"Very well," he said. "Mitzi shall keep the violin. But," he shook his
+finger at Fritz, "if ever I find you playing upon it again when you
+should be working, I shall sell it!"
+
+At these words, Fritz looked as if the toy maker had struck him. The
+violin had been sent to Fritz by his mother's brother in Mittenwald, a
+town of violin makers. It was the little boy's dearest possession.
+
+When their father had left the room, Fritz said, "Oh, Mitz, you are so
+good!"
+
+Mitzi decided that she was hungry again, so she began digging about in
+the cupboard.
+
+She said, "You are a stupid little donkey! And I am not good to you. I
+am not!"
+
+"Oh, Mitz!" said her brother.
+
+"No, I am never good to you," said Mitzi. She had found a big pickle and
+was beginning to gnaw at it. "And never, never will I give you the
+violin. Never!"
+
+"Oh, Mitz!" said Fritz again.
+
+"Never!" repeated Mitzi. Then she added with a smile, "Unless there is
+no work to be done!"
+
+Fritz laughed.
+
+"Come! Eat a pickle," said Mitzi.
+
+They sat together, very happy, eating pickles. Ever since Mitzi had been
+a small child, she had been up to tricks and full of fun. And always,
+always had she been hungry!
+
+That night when the children were in bed the toy maker and his wife
+talked late into the night. The toy maker was worried. He was not
+selling his toys. Soon there would not be money enough in the house with
+which to buy food. He was telling his wife that they were very poor.
+
+[Illustration: EATING PICKLES]
+
+"I am tired of this life, anyway," said the toy maker. "I want to go
+away from Nuremberg. Here people buy only modern toys that are made by
+machines. In big towns people do not like the old-fashioned handmade
+toys."
+
+[Illustration: A TOY SHOP IN NUREMBERG]
+
+"Where would we go?" asked his wife.
+
+The toy maker replied, "We can wander from place to place. When towns
+are having fairs, all the country people come to buy. We can go from one
+fair to the other, selling our toys in the market squares."
+
+"But how would we travel?" asked Mrs. Toymaker.
+
+"Ah!" Her husband raised his finger mysteriously. "I have a secret."
+
+Now, for a long time Mr. Toymaker had been thinking of a wandering life.
+He was clever with his hands and had been making a wagon, which he
+planned to use as a home for his family and himself on their wanderings.
+He told his wife about it now.
+
+"We shall travel through Germany like gypsies," he said. "There is a
+saying that if you cut a gypsy in ten pieces you have not killed him.
+You have only made ten gypsies. Theirs is a healthful life."
+
+Mrs. Toymaker thought the plan a good one. She usually agreed with her
+husband. In fact, there was only one question over which the toy maker
+and his wife really disagreed. That was the question of Fritz and his
+violin. Mrs. Toymaker thought it beautiful for people to make music. Mr.
+Toymaker did not. He thought it a waste of time.
+
+[Illustration: MRS. TOYMAKER]
+
+He said, "One cannot touch tunes nor eat them nor play with them as one
+can with toys. No, Fritz shall make good, solid toys as I do, not
+silly, flimsy tunes, which nobody will pay to hear."
+
+But still Mrs. Toymaker did not agree. She believed that sometimes
+people will pay for things, even if they cannot touch them. It was Mrs.
+Toymaker who had given Mitz and Fritz their books about German
+musicians.
+
+It was Mrs. Toymaker who had said, "In our Germany some of the world's
+greatest composers of music were born. Many of them played cleverly when
+they were little boys. Perhaps--who knows?--my Fritz may grow to be a
+great musician."
+
+But she did not say this to the stubborn toy maker.
+
+[Illustration: CHURCH OF OUR LADY--NUREMBERG]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+GOODBYE TO NUREMBERG
+
+
+The day before the toy maker and his family were to start on their
+journey, Mitz and Fritz went to the market place. They walked through
+the quaint old streets of Nuremberg where they had lived all their
+lives. Frank, the dog, followed at their heels.
+
+They stood looking up at an ancient clock on an ancient church. Under
+the face of the clock sat the figure of Emperor Charles the Fifth.
+
+When the clock struck twelve, a little door at the side opened. A row of
+toy knights came marching out, followed by seven electors. Each figure
+bowed stiffly to the Emperor as it sailed past. Then it disappeared
+into a door at the opposite side of the clock.
+
+Every day this performance took place. Every day Nuremberg children
+gathered below to watch it. Fritz sighed when it was over.
+
+"That is the last time we shall see it," he said.
+
+"We shall see other things," said Mitzi. "We are going to--to--oh, to
+every place that we have read about!"
+
+"We shall see the homes of great musicians," said Fritz, whose face was
+now beaming.
+
+The Germans like to remember their great men. Even the school children
+are often taken by their teachers on trips to the towns where poets and
+painters and musicians lived. It is no wonder, then, that Mitz and Fritz
+were happy and excited about what the next day was to bring.
+
+As they turned to leave the market place, Mitzi suddenly caught sight of
+some people across the street. They were walking very slowly and gazing
+about with the air of seeing things for the first time.
+
+"Stay here and hold Frank," said Mitzi to her brother. "I am going over
+to see those strangers. I am going to ask to guide them through the
+church."
+
+She crossed the street and approached the people. She felt certain that
+they must be Americans or English, for she had watched many like them.
+She decided to show how well she could speak English.
+
+"Gute day," said Mitzi.
+
+"Why, hello, little Gretchen!" said a jolly-looking man.
+
+"I be Mitzi," said the little girl, with a short bow. "I will show you
+to the church."
+
+The people laughed.
+
+The jolly man said, "You wish to show us to the church? Very well. I
+think the church will be pleased to see us."
+
+Mitzi took the travelers through the church. She talked a great deal,
+and sometimes they could not understand what she said. Nevertheless when
+they came out they gave her some coins. Mitzi put the coins in her
+pocket and bowed again.
+
+"Danke (dän´k[~e]). Danke," she said; which means "Thanks. Thanks."
+
+The man said, "You are a good guide, and the church seemed very glad to
+meet us."
+
+"Yes, ma'am," said Mitzi.
+
+She was trying to use all the English words she knew. Then she
+remembered a sentence which an English boy had once taught her. He had
+been a very naughty boy. He had told her that it was a most polite and
+respectful thing to say.
+
+So the little German girl lifted her round face to the stranger, smiled
+sweetly, and said, "You--are--a--silly--goose!"
+
+Mitzi could not understand why there was a roar of laughter from her new
+friends. She turned and ran across the street to where Fritz and Frank
+were awaiting her.
+
+[Illustration: A HOUSE IN NUREMBERG]
+
+"Come. We are going home to lunch now," she said to her brother.
+
+She pulled the coins out of her pocket and showed them to Fritz. Then
+she pulled something else out of her pocket and began to eat. It was a
+bit of sausage.
+
+They passed funny houses with pictures painted on them, and old shops
+full of wonderful toys and ornaments and gingerbread. They passed toy
+shops and sausage stands. There are a thousand different kinds of
+sausages in Germany.
+
+Germany is the children's gingerbread country. Think of all the childish
+delights that have come out of Germany: Christmas trees, cuckoo clocks,
+Hansel and Gretel, Grimms' Fairy Tales, and the Pied Piper!
+
+And toys! When a toy is marked "made in Germany," we know that it is
+very fine, because Germany is the toy center of the world.
+
+In Switzerland you would climb the Alps and eat cheese. In Ireland you
+would kiss the Blarney Stone and eat stew. In Italy you would see the
+art galleries and eat spaghetti. In China you would visit the Great Wall
+and eat rice. But in Germany, especially if you are a child, you would
+go to the toy shops and eat gingerbread.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+BAYREUTH AND A PLAN
+
+
+Did you ever dream of becoming so great that a whole town would exist in
+your memory? That is what happened in the case of Richard Wagner, the
+little boy who stood in a market square and listened to "The Huntsman's
+Chorus."
+
+Mitz and Fritz and their parents arrived in Bayreuth (B[=i]´roit´) in
+time for the Wagner festival. People had come from all over the world to
+hear the great Wagner operas. They are performed in a beautiful theater
+built especially for that purpose.
+
+During the festival, the whole town talks and thinks and remembers
+Richard Wagner. In every shop window are pictures of the composer. Even
+a newspaper is published which prints only matters concerning
+Richard Wagner.
+
+[Illustration: HOME OF RICHARD WAGNER--BAYREUTH]
+
+Mitz and Fritz left their wagon home and began to wander through the
+woodland town. Fritz was so happy and excited that one would have
+thought it his own festival. He had read and heard much about Bayreuth.
+
+[Illustration: CHILDREN PLAYING AT THE FESTIVAL]
+
+Mitzi, too, was impressed. But this did not stop her from nibbling at a
+bar of chocolate and smearing her round face.
+
+"What do all the blue and white banners mean?" asked Fritz.
+
+"They are the colors of Bavaria," said Mitzi.
+
+Just as we have our states, so has Germany hers. In each part of the
+country the people are different from those of other parts.
+
+In the United States the southern people are different from the western
+cowboy. In Great Britain the Scotch are different from the Welsh. In
+Switzerland the Italian-Swiss are different from the French-Swiss.
+
+[Illustration: THE SCHUHPLATTLER, A NATIVE FOLK DANCE OF THE BAVARIAN
+MOUNTAINS]
+
+In Germany the Bavarian is a jolly farmer The German who lives by the
+Rhine is fun-loving and cheerful. But the Prussian is strict and very
+serious.
+
+Mr. Toymaker was a Prussian. So is the former Kaiser, who ruled Germany
+before the World War. Now the ex-Kaiser is living quietly in Holland,
+and Germany is a republic like our country.
+
+But let us go back to Mitz and Fritz. It seems that I cannot resist
+telling you a few things about their country as we go along. However, I
+am sure Mitz and Fritz would not object to that. For all Germans want to
+learn, even while they play.
+
+Mr. Toymaker tried to sell his toys in the crowded market place of
+Bayreuth. But he was not very successful. People were thinking only of
+the glorious music they had come to hear.
+
+Visitors wandered about the town. They stood beside the grave of Wagner
+in the garden of his home. In this grave the musician is buried with his
+faithful dog.
+
+[Illustration: MARKET PLACE--BAYREUTH]
+
+It is here that we find Mitz and Fritz and Mrs. Toymaker. Frank lay at
+their feet.
+
+"Father is so disappointed," said Mrs. Toymaker. "He has sold so few
+toys."
+
+"Perhaps in the next town he will sell more," said Fritz. Then he took
+his mother's hand. "Please," he added wistfully, "tell us something
+about Richard Wagner."
+
+Mrs. Toymaker was much like Fritz and not very much like Mr. Toymaker.
+Somehow she forgot her worries about not selling toys when she
+thought of Wagner. So she smiled and told the children this story:
+
+"When Richard was about fourteen he went to school in Dresden. But he
+soon became very homesick for his family, who were living in Prague
+(Präk). He had no money, so he and a schoolmate decided to walk to
+Prague.
+
+"It was a long distance, and the boys grew very weary and hungry. At
+last Richard made up his mind to hail the first coach and to beg for
+money. The other boy was timid and hid in the bushes.
+
+"Richard stood in the center of the road as a coach came along. He held
+up his hand and the coach stopped. But the poor boy's knees were
+shaking, and he could hardly speak."
+
+Mitzi interrupted her mother. "Why not?" she asked. "I would have
+spoken. I would have said, 'Give me money. I am hungry.'"
+
+"Yes," laughed Mrs. Toymaker. "I have no doubt of that. For you are
+always hungry and you can always talk! But, you see, Richard was
+different."
+
+"A bit foolish, like Fritz," said Mitzi knowingly.
+
+The mother paid no attention to this remark but went on with her story:
+"The people in the coach were kind and threw money to Richard. He and
+his friend had a good dinner and finally reached Prague. But they say
+that he never forgot this experience."
+
+A light began to shine in Mitzi's eyes as her mother finished the tale.
+An idea had been born in her busy little head. That evening after supper
+she took Fritz by the hand.
+
+"Come," she whispered. "I have something to tell you--something very
+exciting." She led him away from their wagon, out upon the moonlit road.
+"Fritz," she said, "I have thought of a way to help Father. I thought
+of it after Mother told that story about Richard Wagner. Now, if Richard
+had been a boy musician like you, he might have played for people and--"
+
+"Do you mean that he might have played on his trip to Prague?" asked
+Fritz.
+
+"Yes," said Mitzi. "In every town. The people would have thrown him so
+much money that he could have bought all the bread and sausage and--"
+
+Fritz laughed at Mitzi's wide eyes.
+
+"Well, but what has that to do with our helping Father?" he asked.
+
+"Don't you see?" she replied. "You shall play on the streets, and people
+will throw coins. Then, even if Father cannot sell toys, we shall still
+have money with which to buy food."
+
+"Oh, Mitz!" said Fritz.
+
+"Oh, whist!" cried Mitzi impatiently. "I am going to make you do it!
+You'll see how easy it will be."
+
+"But Father will not let me do it," said Fritz. "He does not like my
+fiddling. He would punish me."
+
+"We won't tell him," said Mitzi. "He only forbade you to play when he
+puts you to work. Other times, it is not wrong for you to do it. So,
+when Father is selling toys in the next market place, we'll run off. You
+shall play your violin, and pretty soon crowds of people will gather
+and--"
+
+"Oh, Mi--" began Fritz.
+
+"Oh, fiddlesticks!" snapped Mitzi. She took him firmly by the arm.
+"Come," she said. "It is all settled. It is a fine plan. So now let us
+find something to eat and then go to bed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+ALONG THE ROAD
+
+
+Mr. Toymaker heard of a fair to be held in Mainz (M[=i]nts). So he
+decided to go there at once, although it was some distance from
+Bayreuth.
+
+On the journey the children were kept busy. Fritz had to help his father
+with many things. Mitzi had to help her mother. They found no time to
+try their plan. But they did not forget it.
+
+[Illustration: GROUP OF HIKERS ON THE MARCH]
+
+Along the road they saw much of interest. They passed small hotels for
+young travelers hiking about the country. In different lands there are
+different sports. Spain has her bullfights. England has her cricket.
+Switzerland's high mountains are popular for snow and ice sports.
+The United States plays baseball. But Germany hikes.
+
+[Illustration: AN OLD CASTLE MADE INTO AN INN FOR HIKERS]
+
+All over the land, in the summer time and even in winter, one meets
+groups of walkers. Children walk with teachers. Older children walk
+alone. As they walk they sing. They admire their country and learn. They
+stop overnight in these little youth inns--hotels made especially for
+boys and girls.
+
+"Some day I am going with a group," said Mitzi. "I am going on hiking
+trips."
+
+"Not until you are a bachfisch (bäk´fish)," said Fritz.
+
+In Germany a young girl is called a "bachfisch," which means "baked
+fish."
+
+But not so long ago in Germany girls did not hike and swim and play
+tennis. But now it is different. Girls are interested in everything,
+just as they are in America.
+
+The Toymaker family journeyed through Hanau (Hä´nou), home of the Grimm
+brothers. The children spoke of these two devoted men, who had always
+worked together. Some of their stories have become famous, as, for
+instance, "Hansel and Gretel" and "Tom Thumb."
+
+The family moved on toward Frankfurt.
+
+The five Rothschild brothers had lived in Frankfurt. They had become the
+richest men in Europe and were called "The Five Frankfurters." Mrs.
+Toymaker remembered that the great poet, Goethe, had been born there.
+
+[Illustration: KASSEL; OLD STREET IN THE "GRIMM QUARTER"]
+
+[Illustration: SABABURG CASTLE IN THE GERMAN FAIRY TALE FOREST NEAR
+KASSEL IS THE PALACE OF SLEEPING BEAUTY AND BLUEBEARD FAME]
+
+Mitzi hoped to eat her fill of sausages. Frankfurt is supposed to be the
+home of the "hot dog." But she had more important hopes than eating "hot
+dogs." She was going to carry out her plan for Fritz's concert when they
+reached Mainz.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+MAINZ AND A BEGGAR
+
+
+"Come quickly, Fritz. Now, we can slip away!" said Mitzi.
+
+They were in the market place of Mainz. Their father was sitting at a
+booth under a striped umbrella. He was selling a few toys, and he looked
+more cheerful than usual.
+
+Mitzi led her brother down the street.
+
+"Quickly, come! We shall stand here before this big church," she said.
+
+They had stopped in front of a beautiful old cathedral. Near by stood
+the statue of a man holding a sheet of paper in his hands.
+
+"That is the statue of Gutenberg (G[=oo]´t[)e]n-b[)e]rk), the inventor
+of printing," said Mitzi.
+
+Fritz could not help thinking, just then, of all the great men who have
+come out of Germany. There was this Gutenberg, born here in Mainz. There
+was Professor Einstein ([=I]n´st[=i]n), the famous scientist, born in
+Ulm. There was--
+
+[Illustration: MAINZ]
+
+"Fritz! Fritz!" His sister was stamping her foot and screaming until she
+was almost purple in the face. "Will you listen?" she cried. "What are
+you thinking of? Come now! Stop dreaming and play your violin!"
+
+[Illustration: THE GENERAL]
+
+Fritz had to laugh at her stern round face and her sharp command.
+
+He saluted and said, "Yes, yes, General! I obey."
+
+Then he took up his violin and began to play. Several people stopped to
+listen. They smiled but passed on. Mitzi stood on one foot and then on
+the other. Frank lay at her feet, wondering why they did not go on to
+explore this strange new city. Fritz played and Mitz stood, and only a
+few people seemed to notice them. Among these was a gentleman who put
+his hand into his pocket.
+
+"Catch!" he said to Mitzi, as he threw her a coin.
+
+After some time, Fritz grew tired and Mitzi discouraged.
+
+"Let us go and buy sausage with this coin," said Mitzi.
+
+She was not altogether pleased with the way things had worked out. But,
+anyway, she wanted to surprise her father with the small bit they had
+been able to make.
+
+They turned to leave, when all at once they heard a whining sound behind
+them. They looked around. Sitting upon the church steps was a beggar. He
+wore ragged clothes and was a very old man. He held out his hand to Mitz
+and Fritz.
+
+He said, "I am a beggar and I am hungry. Will you give me your coin?"
+
+He looked miserable. Mitzi felt sorry for him. But still she thought of
+her father's pleasure if she should return home with sausages.
+
+She thought how she would say to her father, "It was Fritz's music that
+did it."
+
+[Illustration: CATHEDRAL AT MAINZ]
+
+But Fritz was tugging at her sleeve.
+
+"Give it to him," said the boy. "See! He is very old."
+
+Mitzi put her hand into the pocket of her little apron and pulled out
+the precious coin. She looked at it lovingly, then she threw it to the
+old man.
+
+"Come along, Fritz," she said.
+
+The children turned away and left a happy beggar behind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+DOWN THE RHINE AND TROUBLES
+
+
+Mr. Toymaker felt almost jolly. He counted the money he had made and
+chuckled.
+
+"At last our luck has changed," he said. "I have really sold some toys.
+Now, let us go on. Let us wander down the Rhine and stop at friendly
+fairs along the way."
+
+Mitzi was not so pleased with her day.
+
+"Still we shall not give up," she said to Fritz. "At the next large town
+you must give another concert. Only we shall take care this time that
+there are no beggars about!"
+
+The family left Mainz and started along the shore of the most famous
+river in all the world. England has her river Thames (T[)e]mz). France
+is proud of the Seine (S[=a]n). Italy loves the Tiber. Russia sings of
+the Volga. In Austria it is the Danube. But the River Rhine is dear to
+Germany.
+
+[Illustration: STOLZENFELS CASTLE ON THE RHINE]
+
+Castles on every hill have ancient legends. The Toymaker family gazed
+upon beautiful, vine-covered hillsides and villages where people live by
+the making of wine. The Rhine land is a wine land. Some of the best
+wines in the world come from here.
+
+Mitz and Fritz thought of the stories of Siegfried (S[=e]g´fr[=e]d),
+that great hero of Wagner's operas, "Siegfried" and "The Twilight of the
+Gods." In the Rhine land Siegfried was born.
+
+They thought of Charlemagne (Shär´l[+e]-m[=a]n), that mighty conqueror,
+who lies sleeping in this land. They thought of dragons, of buried
+treasure, of brave heroes, of secret caves. The Rhine country is full of
+such thoughts.
+
+Then they came to Bingen (B[)i]n[=g]´[)e]n).
+
+"The Mouse Tower!" cried Mitzi.
+
+"Tell us the story, please, Mother!" said Fritz.
+
+The children had heard this tale many times. But never before had they
+heard it told while they were looking at the old tower. It stood in the
+center of the river.
+
+[Illustration: THE MOUSE TOWER OF BINGEN ON THE RHINE]
+
+"Long ago," began Mrs. Toymaker, "there lived a cruel bishop. When the
+poor people were starving, he bought all the grain in the land. He locked
+it up in his barn. The hungry villagers came to steal the grain. While
+they were in the barn, the bishop set fire to it.
+
+"He said, 'These people deserve to die. They are like mice stealing from
+a granary.'
+
+"But soon he was punished for his wickedness. One day thousands of mice
+broke into his tower and ate him up. That is why this is called the
+Mouse Tower."
+
+Said Fritz, "He deserved to be eaten!"
+
+Said Mitz, "I wonder how a bishop would taste to a rat."
+
+"Mitz! Mitz!" laughed Mrs. Toymaker. "What strange ideas you have!"
+
+Yet Mrs. Toymaker could hardly guess what strange things Mitzi was
+really going to do. Even Fritz did not know. Indeed, Mitzi herself was
+unaware of all that lay before her.
+
+The Toymakers traveled along the Rhine.
+
+They passed the beautiful rock of the Lorelei and Mrs. Toymaker
+told Mitz and Fritz the famous legend of the beautiful maiden who sat
+upon the rock combing her golden hair. She sang and called to passing
+ships, and her voice was so beautiful that fishermen and sailors tried
+to reach the rock but they were always dashed to pieces on the reefs at
+the foot of the cliffs.
+
+[Illustration: THE ROCK OF THE LORELEI]
+
+Mitz and Fritz loved this story.
+
+The Toymakers stopped at one or two small towns. But Mr. Toymaker sold
+no toys. Again he grew worried. They passed happy people bathing in the
+river. Gay bath-houses dot the shores. Bathers bake themselves in the
+sun and rest beside the river.
+
+"There is never any rest for me," sighed poor Mr. Toymaker.
+
+"Perhaps, when we reach Coblenz (k[=o]´bl[)e]nts), you will sell more
+toys," said his wife.
+
+"When we reach Coblenz," murmured Mitzi to Fritz, "you are to give
+another concert."
+
+When they arrived in Coblenz, Mitzi said, "Come along, now, Fritz. This
+is our chance."
+
+A short time later, Mr. Toymaker looked about and could not find Fritz
+and Mitzi.
+
+"Where are the children?" he asked. "They are always running off."
+
+"They have gone to the town," answered Mrs. Toymaker.
+
+"I did not tell them they could go," said Mr. Toymaker. "What are they
+up to? They should stay and help me with my work."
+
+[Illustration: THE JUNCTION OF THE RHINE AND MOSELLE RIVERS IN COBLENZ]
+
+"But they finished their work," said Mrs. Toymaker.
+
+Mr. Toymaker grunted. He would surely have grunted more angrily had he
+seen what his children were doing at that moment. Fritz was standing in
+a far corner of the market square, playing his violin. Mitzi was
+standing by his side.
+
+Coblenz is a city of manufacturing and similar industries. The fortress
+across the river was occupied by American soldiers after the World War.
+Sometimes in a quiet city people are not much hurried. Therefore they
+give heed to pleasant sounds. Coblenz has been a quiet city since the
+soldiers left.
+
+Mitzi eagerly watched the passers-by. She smiled as Fritz played. The
+little dog Frank wagged his tail happily. Then he fell asleep on the
+sidewalk.
+
+Soon a large number of people gathered. They stood listening.
+
+One said to another, "The boy plays well. He is a real musician."
+
+Several coins were thrown.
+
+"I am right!" thought Mitzi. Her heart pounded with delight. "People
+will pay to hear my Fritz's music. They will!"
+
+When the day was almost done, Fritz stopped playing. Mitzi showed him
+the money they had made.
+
+"See," she said. "Enough coins to make even Father smile! Come. Let us
+give them to Father. How pleased he will be!"
+
+"Now, perhaps, he will like my playing," said Fritz.
+
+They hurried toward their wagon, where they found Mr. Toymaker very much
+annoyed.
+
+"Why did you run away and not tell me where you were going?" he
+demanded.
+
+Mitzi held out the money.
+
+"See, Father," she said. "See what Fritz's music has brought!"
+
+Mr. Toymaker looked at the coins in Mitzi's hand. Then he looked at the
+happy face of the little girl. And then he turned to Fritz, who was
+smiling at him.
+
+"You are a very naughty boy!" he said.
+
+The smile left Fritz's face. Mitzi caught her father's arm.
+
+"But, Father," she said. "You don't understand. Fritz did nothing wrong.
+He only played his violin when he had finished the work you gave him.
+He played in the town, and people threw coins because they liked his
+music."
+
+[Illustration: "SEE, FATHER!"]
+
+"What?" cried Mr. Toymaker. "Do you tell me that people paid to hear a
+boy scratching upon a fiddle? It is not true! Fritz has stolen this
+money!"
+
+[Illustration: "FRITZ HAS STOLEN THE MONEY!"]
+
+"Father!" gasped Fritz.
+
+His face had gone white. Mitzi's eyes became two round bowls.
+
+"Oh, Father, no!" she cried. "Fritz would never steal, and neither would
+I!"
+
+"Do not say another word," commanded Mr. Toymaker. "You cannot make me
+believe this story. A boy's fiddling cannot bring, in one day, more
+money than I can make in a week selling toys. No, you have stolen. And I
+will not have it."
+
+[Illustration: "THEY MUST OBEY!"]
+
+Mrs. Toymaker tried to make him believe Mitz and Fritz. But Mr. Toymaker
+was very stubborn.
+
+"They are naughty children," he said to his wife. "Mitzi is always doing
+things she should not do. It was she who put the boy up to it. They must
+be made to obey! Tonight they shall go to bed without any supper."
+
+Fritz cried himself to sleep that night. Mitzi tried to comfort him. To
+be accused of stealing! That was worse than having to go to bed without
+supper.
+
+"We'll show Father, Fritz," Mitzi said bravely. "You'll see."
+
+Still her heart was heavy.
+
+"He will never believe me," said Fritz. "If only he would let me play
+for him! And now he thinks that I am a thief!"
+
+Poor, honest little Fritz!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+BONN AND BEETHOVEN
+
+
+"Please, Fritz, do not look so sad," pleaded Mitzi.
+
+They had arrived near the town of Bonn (B[+o]n) on the Rhine. In the
+distance they could see the buildings of a large university.
+
+Fritz had not smiled since their terrible experience in Coblenz. Now,
+however, Mitzi hoped to cheer him.
+
+"See, Fritz," she said. "We are in the town of Beethoven
+(B[=a]´t[=o]-v[)e]n)."
+
+At the sound of this name Fritz's eyes brightened. Beethoven was one of
+the greatest musicians that ever lived.
+
+"I have asked Father to let us wander through the streets," said Mitzi.
+"We may even go to the house where Beethoven was born.
+Come, Fritz."
+
+[Illustration: BONN]
+
+[Illustration: "DO NOT LOOK SO SAD"]
+
+The boy and girl started off together for the pretty little village.
+
+Later, Mr. and Mrs. Toymaker set off for the market place to sell their
+wares.
+
+"I do wish you would listen to Fritz's playing," said Mrs. Toymaker, as
+they walked along. "He has been so unhappy since that day you scolded
+him. Perhaps, after all, our son may be a real musician."
+
+"Say no more about that," growled Mr. Toymaker. "I'll have no idle
+musicians in my family. Look at all the starving tune makers in the
+world! They cannot even support themselves. No! Music is foolish!"
+
+"But," said Mrs. Toymaker, "you forget that Beethoven--"
+
+"He was different!" snapped Mr. Toymaker. "We cannot all be geniuses!"
+
+So what could poor Mrs. Toymaker say? Often the good lady had wondered
+why it was that her husband wanted Fritz to make toys. Surely the making
+of toys had not proved a happy trade for Mr. Toymaker! But it was very
+difficult to argue with him, so his wife did not try.
+
+The children visited Beethoven's house. It is now a museum. In it are
+such relics as the musician's letters, his piano, and even his ear
+trumpets. For Beethoven became deaf. Imagine such a thing as a deaf
+composer! Yet this wonderful man composed some of his most beautiful
+music even after he could not hear.
+
+[Illustration: BIRTHPLACE OF BEETHOVEN--BONN]
+
+"I have read many things about Beethoven," said Fritz to Mitzi. "But the
+part I like to read about is when he was a boy."
+
+Then Fritz told his sister some of the things he had read: "One night
+when Ludwig was asleep, his father came home and woke him up. He stood
+at this very gate and called, 'Up, up, Ludwig, and play!' His father
+kept him at the piano all night long. Next day Ludwig was so tired that
+he could not keep awake at school."
+
+"Why did his father do that?" asked Mitzi indignantly.
+
+"Because," answered Fritz, "he wanted Ludwig to be a great pianist and
+give concerts."
+
+There is a statue of Beethoven in the main square of Bonn. In Germany a
+statue is called a "denkmal," which means a "think over." As Mitz and
+Fritz looked upon this "think over," they thought over many things.
+
+"It seems strange," sighed Mitzi, "that Ludwig's father forced him to
+play, while your father forbids you to."
+
+Fritz laughed.
+
+"You silly!" he said. "I am not Ludwig van Beethoven."
+
+Mitzi began to look like a fierce young lion. She really could look
+that way sometimes.
+
+"No," she said, "but you are Fritz! And you can play the violin more
+beautifully than any other boy in the world."
+
+"Oh, Mitz, what are you saying?" laughed her brother.
+
+But Mitzi was firm.
+
+"One day we shall see," she said.
+
+Mr. Toymaker sold enough toys that day to buy dinner. Next day the
+family started off again along the Rhine.
+
+Then, after many long days of traveling, the Toymakers at last reached
+the town of Hamelin. This is the scene of the Pied Piper tale. It is
+where something remarkable is supposed to have happened to children
+years and years ago. Hamelin is also the place where something really
+did happen to Mitzi.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+MITZI IN HAMELIN
+
+
+Mitz was not Mitz today. She was the Pied Piper of Hamelin! She had
+started off for a walk through the town. With her was Frank, the long
+dog, and an equally long sausage. She had asked her mother's permission
+to go.
+
+Mrs. Toymaker had said, "Yes, you may go. But be sure to come home
+early."
+
+Fritz stayed with his father, helping him to paint some toys and to
+repair others. They were getting ready for a fair in Hanover, a city not
+far away.
+
+So Mitzi wandered off alone--Mitz, Frank, and the sausage! They passed
+through an old gateway into Hamelin. What a storybook town it was!
+Every crooked house, every narrow street reminded Mitzi of the Pied
+Piper legend.
+
+[Illustration: THE RAT-CATCHER'S HOUSE--HAMELIN]
+
+She could almost see the funny, tall man playing on his pipes. She could
+imagine the rats scampering after him. She could hear the voices of the
+children as they followed his music. For, when the Piper had charmed the
+terrible rats out of Hamelin, the people refused to pay him what they
+had promised. So the tall stranger piped the children away, in order to
+punish the ungrateful villagers.
+
+Robert Browning has written a poem about it.
+
+Hamelin is a quiet little town. Mitzi came upon an old fountain named
+after the rat catcher. She saw an inn called the Rat Jug. Altogether it
+was too magical and story-like to be true. So Mitzi became the Pied
+Piper.
+
+[Illustration: PIPED UPON HER SAUSAGE]
+
+She began to lift her feet up high. She straightened out her plump
+little shoulders. Then she raised the sausage to her lips. But she did
+not eat it. The sausage became her pipe. Marching along with Frank at
+her heels, she piped upon her sausage and lived the old story. A few
+people looked at her and smiled.
+
+Through a narrow lane she went. It was the same lane through which the
+Piper had led the children. Even today it is unlawful to play a pipe in
+this lane. But Mitzi's pipe could only be heard by Mitzi herself. She
+followed the pathway out of town and upon a country road.
+
+The lines of the poem came to her mind:
+
+ "And to Koppelberg Hill his steps addressed,
+ And after him the children pressed."
+
+She led her make-believe children up the mountain side--a long line of
+children, but really, only a long dog! They reached a cave in the
+hillside. The sun beat down upon them and the little dog's tongue swept
+the ground. This was not strange, since Frank was so close to the
+ground, anyway.
+
+[Illustration: BEGAN TO EAT HER PIPE]
+
+Mitzi sat down upon a rock and began to eat her pipe. She was still in a
+land of other things. She could still see the mass of children flocking
+after the sweet music. She could hear their laughter as they tumbled
+into the cave.
+
+And then it happened! Real music! It was coming closer. A tall figure
+appeared over the hill.
+
+ "His queer long coat from heel to head
+ Was half of yellow and half of red,
+ And he himself was tall and thin,
+ With sharp blue eyes, each like a pin."
+
+He stood before Mitzi and stopped playing on his pipe.
+
+He said, "Why are you not in the cave, Mitzi? Go into the cave with the
+other children."
+
+"I must go home to Mother and Father and Fritz," said Mitzi. "It grows
+late. See! The sun is sinking."
+
+Indeed, it had become darker, and there was a chill in the air.
+
+"Go into the cave, Mitzi," repeated the tall stranger quietly.
+
+Then he began to play the sweetest music that Mitzi had ever heard. He
+walked into the cave, prancing as he walked. Mitzi got up. She wanted to
+run home, but she could not. She could only follow the Piper into the
+cave.
+
+Now, at the toy maker's wagon the family began to worry. It was almost
+dark, and Mitzi had not come home.
+
+"I will go and find her," said Fritz.
+
+Mrs. Toymaker decided to go along with Fritz.
+
+[Illustration: "WAKE UP, YOU SILLY"]
+
+Meanwhile, Mitzi was inside the cave. There she sat with many wide-eyed
+children. She wanted to go home. But the Piper was playing and making
+her happy. She felt all snuggly and contented.
+
+Suddenly she thought of Fritz. Oh, she must go! She and Fritz had much
+to do. She could not stay here any longer. In the morning they were
+going to leave Hamelin. If she did not return to the wagon, they would
+go on without her.
+
+[Illustration: ONLY FRITZ, FRANK, AND MOTHER]
+
+"Let me out! Let me out!" cried Mitzi. "I must go to Fritz. Let me out!"
+
+The Piper tried to hold her. She struggled. She kicked. She screamed.
+
+"Stop! Stop! You are hurting me," said the Piper.
+
+"I mean to hurt you!" she cried. "I want to go. I want Fritz."
+
+"Then wake up, you silly," said the Piper. "For I am Fritz!"
+
+She stopped kicking and looked. Yes, the Piper had the face of Fritz. He
+was Fritz! She rubbed her eyes. How could Fritz be a Pied Piper? Where
+did he get the cloak? She rubbed her eyes again. This time, when she
+looked, the Piper was not there any more, but only Fritz and her mother,
+laughing at her.
+
+"Come home, you little sleepyhead," said Mrs. Toymaker, putting her arm
+about her little daughter.
+
+On the way home Mitzi could not speak. And when Mitzi could not speak,
+there was something quite wrong or strange or exciting. This time it was
+something exciting. For her dream had given her a wonderful idea.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+STRÖBECK AND DISGRACE
+
+
+The family were wandering through the Harz (Härts) Mountains. Mitz and
+Fritz had never before seen so many trees nor heard such lovely bird
+songs. Mrs. Toymaker told them about the famous canary birds raised in
+the Harz Mountains.
+
+"They are considered the finest singers in the world," she said.
+
+The children loved to pass through tiny villages and see the quaint
+costumes of the peasants. In large cities the people do not wear
+costumes. But in mountain hamlets they often wear the dress of their
+ancestors.
+
+Mitzi was much interested in costumes just now. For Mitzi was making
+one. She had decided to dress her brother as the Pied Piper. She was
+collecting every bit of red and yellow goods she could find. She was
+sewing, sewing, sewing as they drove along. Some of her red scraps were
+pink, it must be admitted. Some of her yellow scraps were white. But
+this did not bother Mitzi.
+
+[Illustration: A BAVARIAN MOUNTAIN VILLAGE]
+
+She was making a Pied Piper cloak for Fritz. She picked up bits of cloth
+along the way and washed them carefully. She begged and obtained all
+the rags her mother had. At the tiny windows of their wagon hung yellow
+curtains. Mitzi longed to use them for her precious cloak.
+
+But when she asked for them, Mrs. Toymaker said, "If you will not tell
+me what you are doing, surely I cannot let you have them."
+
+But Mitzi would not tell. It was to be a secret between Fritz and
+herself. When they reached the next large town, Fritz was to put on the
+cloak. He was to play his violin dressed as the Pied Piper. Mitzi
+planned to bring Mr. Toymaker to the scene of the concert. She hoped to
+show him at last that Fritz's music could please people and make them
+throw money.
+
+Mr. Toymaker was silent and sad. He wondered what would happen to them
+all if his business did not improve. A gypsy life was not very pleasant,
+after all. A cosy home was better for a German family.
+
+[Illustration: CHILDREN CARRY CHESSBOARDS TO SCHOOL]
+
+In September there was to be an important fair in the city of Leipzig
+(L[=i]p´s[)i]k). Mr. Toymaker determined to be there. But until then
+they would be obliged to wander.
+
+One day they approached the town of Ströbeck.
+
+"Ah," said Mr. Toymaker, "we are in time for the great chess festival.
+People who are interested in chess come to this festival from far and
+near. Let us stop."
+
+[Illustration: CHILDREN PLAYING CHESS]
+
+Mitzi, who was busily sewing, looked up.
+
+"What is chess?" she asked. "Is it like cheese? Is it good to eat?"
+
+Mrs. Toymaker laughed, "No, no, little hungry one! It is a game played
+on a board like checkers. This town is the only one in the world where
+children learn chess in school."
+
+"In school?" asked Fritz.
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Toymaker. "During certain months each child goes
+to school with his chessboard. Children learn the old game just as you
+learn arithmetic."
+
+"I think I would like that better than arithmetic," said Fritz.
+
+"But it is a difficult game," said Mrs. Toymaker.
+
+They made their camp near the peaceful town of Ströbeck. They noticed
+some peasant girls tending geese in a field.
+
+"See, Mother," said Mitzi. "They play chess while they watch the geese."
+
+"During the World War," said Mrs. Toymaker, "the Ströbeck money was
+printed with colored chessboards and chessmen upon it."
+
+Later, the family made their way to the public square. The children
+enjoyed the parade of strangely dressed people. There were kings,
+queens, bishops and knights marching along. They represented the
+chessmen with which the game is played. The whole town was in a very
+gay mood.
+
+Mr. Toymaker sold enough toys to cheer him somewhat. After supper they
+sat outside their wagon, and Mrs. Toymaker told them all she knew about
+this strange place.
+
+"Chess is an ancient game," she said. "Ströbeck has been playing it for
+many years. Children begin to learn it when they are still babies. There
+once lived a boy of seven who became a champion. He even beat the
+village schoolmaster."
+
+Fritz liked to hear these stories. He listened eagerly. But Mitz had
+only one thought these days. That thought was the costume for Fritz.
+
+[Illustration: MITZ LOOKED CROOKED]
+
+She had her eye upon the yellow curtains of the wagon. How fine they
+would be for her purpose! The family traveled further, and all the time
+Mitzi sewed. Slowly the costume grew, but too slowly for Mitzi.
+
+One day when Mrs. Toymaker returned from the market place, she thought
+surely her eyes were playing her tricks. The windows of their wagon
+looked crooked. Then out came Mitzi. And what had happened to Mitzi? She
+looked crooked, too!
+
+"Mitz, what have you done to the curtains?" asked Mrs. Toymaker.
+
+Before Mitzi could reply, Mrs. Toymaker understood why Mitzi looked
+crooked. Her little red skirt was hanging in a strange, uneven way. Mrs.
+Toymaker inspected the curtains.
+
+"Mitzi!" she said sternly. "You have cut pieces off the top of the
+curtains and tried to sew them together again."
+
+Mitzi said nothing, but her face was flushed.
+
+[Illustration: "YOU NAUGHTY LITTLE GIRL"]
+
+"Oh, Mitz!" continued Mrs. Toymaker. "You have cut pieces off your red
+skirt and tried to sew it together, too. Now it is hanging all wrong.
+You naughty little girl!"
+
+Fritz was out gathering wood for the fire. Mitzi had worked alone and
+quickly.
+
+"I do not know what you are up to, Mitzi," said her mother. "But you
+must be punished for this."
+
+So for three days Mitzi was made to stay in the wagon alone. She could
+not go with the family to market. She had to eat her meals alone. She
+had to eat black bread and drink water like a prisoner. This was very
+hard for sausage-loving Mitz. She was in disgrace.
+
+However, she bore her punishment like a man. She knew that she had done
+wrong. She helped her mother to arrange the curtains and to fix her
+skirt. She said nothing. But all the time she knew that soon the
+brightly colored little cloak would be finished.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+EISENACH AND BACH
+
+
+"Our great chance will come in Leipzig," said Mitzi.
+
+She was sitting on the steps of their wagon, sewing. Fritz sat beside
+her. He held an open book in his hands.
+
+The Toymakers had made their camp outside of Eisenach ([=I]´z[)e]n-äk).
+Mr. and Mrs. Toymaker had gone to town, leaving Mitz and Fritz with the
+wagon. Mitzi wanted to finish that costume before they arrived in
+Leipzig. Fritz was reading about Johann Sebastian Bach (Bäk), who was
+born in Eisenach.
+
+"Bach came from a family of musicians," read Fritz. "The name 'Bach'
+means 'brook.' Beethoven once said, 'He is not a brook but an
+ocean!'"
+
+[Illustration: EISENACH]
+
+"Come," interrupted Mitzi. "Try on the cloak. I am afraid I have made it
+too large."
+
+[Illustration: "LET ME TRY IT ON"]
+
+"No," said Fritz, as he tried it on. "It fits me perfectly. How pretty
+it is, and how clever is my Mitz!"
+
+Mitzi waggled her head proudly.
+
+She said, "Many people will be in Leipzig for the fair. When you give
+your concert, I'll fetch Father and bring him to where you are playing.
+Oh, how surprised and pleased he'll be!"
+
+Fritz smiled. Then he went on reading from his book while Mitzi sewed.
+
+"'When Bach was a boy,'" read Fritz, "'his father died and he lived with
+his brother Christoph. One day Christoph brought home a book full of
+beautiful music. The little boy longed to play it. But Christoph was
+jealous of Sebastian's talent. He refused to let him have the music book
+and locked it up.
+
+"'Poor Sebastian wanted very much to play that music. So every night he
+got up and stole downstairs into the music room. He pulled the book out
+from between the bars of the bookcase. He sat in the light of the moon
+and copied the notes.
+
+"'At last, after many weeks, he had copied the whole volume. He went to
+sleep with his work under his pillow. He was very happy. But next day a
+terrible thing occurred. While Sebastian was playing the music on the
+harpsichord, his brother Christoph came in. When Christoph saw what the
+boy had done, he took away Sebastian's precious copy book.'"
+
+[Illustration: THE HOME OF BACH IN EISENACH]
+
+"And what happened then?" asked Mitzi.
+
+She was interested in this poor little fellow who had longed so
+much for music. She was very angry with the brother.
+
+Fritz read on: "'Sebastian fell ill. He was so unhappy that he could not
+eat. Then, one day he discovered that he could play the beautiful music
+without notes. It was all written in his heart!'"
+
+"Ah," said Mitzi. "That is good!"
+
+"'But just as he was playing it,'" continued Fritz, "'in came his
+brother Christoph again--'"
+
+"The goose!" sniffed Mitzi.
+
+"'Christoph stood in the doorway listening,'" read Fritz. "'At first he
+was ready to stop the playing. But at last it dawned upon him that his
+little brother was truly a great artist.'"
+
+"So he stopped being jealous?" asked Mitzi.
+
+"Yes," said Fritz. He closed the book and sighed, adding, "It must have
+been terrible for Sebastian when his brother took away the music he
+loved."
+
+Mitzi sighed, too. Then she jumped up quickly, frightening Fritz so that
+he fell off the steps.
+
+"But now I am hungry," said Mitzi. "Let us go and get some cheese!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+A CASTLE AND THE POET CITY
+
+
+As the Toymaker family drove away from Eisenach, they passed below the
+Wartburg (Värt´b[)oo]rk) Castle. Mrs. Toymaker asked her husband to
+stop. She wanted the children to see this historic place. The castle
+stands high on a crag.
+
+As they walked toward it, Mrs. Toymaker said, "It was here that Martin
+Luther translated the Bible from Latin into German so the German people
+could read it. There is a tale of how the Devil appeared before Luther,
+who threw an inkwell at the Devil's head. The spot where that inkwell
+hit the wall is still to be seen in the castle."
+
+"Please tell us another story about the castle," said Fritz.
+
+[Illustration: WARTBURG CASTLE]
+
+"St. Elizabeth was Countess of Wartburg," said Mrs. Toymaker. "She had a
+heartless husband, who did not want her to be kind to the poor and sick.
+Upon one occasion he met her going out of the castle carrying a basket.
+
+"'Where are you going? And what have you in that basket?' he asked.
+
+"Now, Elizabeth had loaves of bread in the basket. She was taking them
+to a poor old woman. But she was afraid of her husband's wrath.
+
+"So she answered, 'I have only roses in the basket.'
+
+"The Count, her husband, looked into the basket to be sure. And, behold,
+the Countess had spoken truthfully. The loaves of bread had been turned
+into roses!"
+
+Had Mrs. Toymaker and the children gone into the castle, they would have
+seen pictures of this story drawn upon the walls. But they did not go
+inside. They went back to their wagon and proceeded on their way.
+
+"I hope that my friend, Mr. Krauss, will be in Leipzig," said Mr.
+Toymaker. "Mr. Krauss is a bookseller. He will surely help me. He may
+even start a toy shop for me in Leipzig. I hope I shall find Mr.
+Krauss!"
+
+[Illustration: STATUE OF GOETHE IN LEIPZIG]
+
+However, before they reached Leipzig, they stopped in Weimar
+(V[=i]´mär), the "poet city," Weimar is where Goethe (Gû´t[~e]),
+Germany's greatest poet, once lived. School children were taught to
+salute the poet Goethe, when they passed him on the street. Today
+children are still taken to Weimar by their teachers and told about
+Goethe's life.
+
+Long ago, a little boy was brought to Weimar to visit at the old poet's
+home. This little boy was about the same age as Fritz and also loved
+music. Felix Mendelssohn (M[)e]n´d[)e]l-s[=o]n) was his name. Goethe met
+young Mendelssohn in the garden and led him into the house and to the
+piano.
+
+He said, "Now, make a little noise for me."
+
+Felix played so beautifully that Goethe said, "You have given me great
+pleasure. What would you like me to do for you?"
+
+Felix answered, "I should like you to kiss me."
+
+[Illustration: STATUE OF MENDELSSOHN IN LEIPZIG]
+
+Mitz and Fritz had heard many stories about Felix Mendelssohn. He was
+their mother's favorite composer. She had told them how this wonderful
+boy had written music when he was only a baby. She had told them about
+the way Felix used to lead a big orchestra. He had been so small that
+he had had to stand upon a chair.
+
+But Mrs. Toymaker did not know that her own little boy had a gift, too.
+Sometimes she wondered, of course. Still she agreed with Mr. Toymaker
+that very few people are born with genius. Only naughty little Mitz was
+sure because she loved Fritz so much. She loved him and made up her mind
+that everyone in the world was going to find out about his beautiful
+music.
+
+As they left Weimar, Mitzi squeezed her brother's hand.
+
+"We are on our way to Leipzig now," she said.
+
+She thought of the costume safely tucked away and ready for Fritz to put
+on.
+
+Mr. Toymaker was driving the horse, and Mrs. Toymaker sat beside him.
+
+"We are on our way to Leipzig now," said Mr. Toymaker.
+
+He thought of the famous fair to which they were going. He thought of
+his friend, Mr. Krauss, who would help him. But never once did he think
+of a concert that was to be given for him.
+
+[Illustration: A CHURCH IN LEIPZIG]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE LEIPZIG FAIR
+
+
+One of the great fairs of the year was now going on in Leipzig. The
+Toymakers drove by the railway station, the largest in Europe. Many
+people were hurrying in and out. They passed the church where Johann
+Sebastian Bach used to sing.
+
+All manner of peddlers swarmed the streets. The children opened their
+eyes wide at sight of one man entirely covered by clocks. He was a clock
+peddler from the Black Forest. Traders from all over the country were in
+Leipzig with their wares. Buyers from every place were at the fair to
+buy.
+
+"See, children," said Mrs. Toymaker. "There is a statue of Mendelssohn,
+the little boy who used to lead an orchestra. When he grew up, he led
+his orchestra in that building."
+
+Leipzig is a city of books. Everyone seems to be reading. They read even
+as they stroll along the streets.
+
+Mr. Toymaker immediately set out to find his friend, Mr. Krauss, the
+bookseller. But he could not find his friend.
+
+The first day at the market place was very dismal. Nobody paid any
+attention to Mr. Toymaker's wares. There were too many beautiful toys to
+be seen.
+
+"It is the same here as it was in Nuremberg," said Mrs. Toymaker.
+
+Her sweet face was sad. "Oh, what are we to do?" the poor lady was
+thinking.
+
+But Mitzi knew what to do. Tomorrow she and Fritz intended to slip away
+from their booth in the market place. Today their father needed them
+there to help.
+
+[Illustration: LEIPZIG]
+
+Mr. Toymaker had displayed his prettiest
+toys: brightly colored soldiers, flaxen-haired dolls, and animals with
+big, staring-eyes. Yet even children did not stop. At a shop across the
+square were dolls that talked and walked, engines that sped along
+tracks, airplanes that flew, and doll houses with electric lights in
+them and elevators and running water. Is it any wonder that Mr. Toymaker's
+carved toys did not attract people?
+
+"Run back to the wagon and make some coffee," said Mrs. Toymaker to Mitz
+and Fritz. "Father and I will stay here a little longer. When we get
+home we shall have supper."
+
+"But there is nothing to eat in the wagon," said Mitzi.
+
+Mrs. Toymaker looked at her husband. Mr. Toymaker turned to Mitzi.
+
+"Obey your mother," he said. "Go home and make coffee. When we come, we
+shall bring food with us."
+
+Mitz and Fritz and Frank went slowly back to the wagon.
+
+"I do not understand how Father can bring food," said Mitzi. "There is
+certainly no money with which to buy it."
+
+"Tomorrow there will be money," smiled Fritz.
+
+"Yes," agreed Mitzi. "Because of your concert. And Father must be there
+to see." Suddenly she cried, "Oh, careful, you donkey! You are splashing
+in mud puddles. You are getting your feet all wet!"
+
+[Illustration: LEIPZIG]
+
+But Fritz did not care. He was dreaming. He liked mud puddles because he
+was a boy. He liked dreams because he was an artist.
+
+When they reached their wagon home, Mitzi put the coffee on the stove.
+Soon Mr. and Mrs. Toymaker arrived. Their arms were full of bundles.
+
+"See what a nice supper we are to have," said Mrs. Toymaker.
+
+She was smiling, but Mitzi noticed that there were tears in her blue
+eyes. Mitzi noticed something else besides the tears.
+
+"Mother!" she cried. "Where is your pretty blue necklace?"
+
+Mrs. Toymaker had always worn a string of sparkling blue beads. They
+were quite valuable and were her only piece of jewelry. She had loved
+them because Mr. Toymaker had given them to her before Mitz and Fritz
+were born.
+
+Mrs. Toymaker did not answer Mitzi. She began to untie the bundles.
+
+"See," she said. "Black bread and milk!"
+
+"But, Mother," insisted Mitzi, "where is your necklace? Have you lost
+it?"
+
+Mrs. Toymaker saw the terror in Mitzi's eyes. That necklace had seemed
+to the little girl the finest and prettiest in all the world. Her
+mother was not her mother without it.
+
+Mrs. Toymaker did not know what to say. She drew Mitzi close and kissed
+her.
+
+But Mr. Toymaker said, "Enough of this, Mitzi. Go and help prepare the
+supper. You are too curious!"
+
+"But, Father--" began Mitzi.
+
+"Very well, then," said Mr. Toymaker. "I shall tell you. We sold the
+necklace so that we could buy food. Now, are you satisfied?"
+
+Mr. Toymaker's voice sounded cross. But his face looked very worried.
+
+"Oh, the beautiful necklace!" cried Mitzi.
+
+Mr. Toymaker untied a package.
+
+"Oh, the beautiful cheese!" he sniffed.
+
+He was trying to make the best of things. He was trying to be jolly--poor
+Mr. Toymaker!
+
+"One cannot grieve about neck decorations," he said, "when the stomach
+cries out to be decorated!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+THE CONCERT
+
+
+Mitzi decided to hold the concert in a park. The market square was too
+noisy and bustling. She wanted her brother's beautiful music to have a
+beautiful setting. The two children walked through Mendelssohn Street,
+Bach Street, Beethoven Street, and Mozart (M[=o]´tzärt) Street.
+
+"Leipzig is a wonderful city," thought Fritz. "They have named their
+streets after their musicians."
+
+What would Father think of that? There was no street named after a toy
+maker!
+
+Bismarck Street was named for a great German leader. The strength and
+wisdom of Prince Otto von Bismarck helped Germany to become a powerful
+nation.
+
+[Illustration: THE PARK IN LEIPZIG]
+
+In the park many people strolled to and fro. Some were reading. The
+children came upon a silver pond with beautiful shady trees all about
+it.
+
+"Now, Fritz," said Mitzi, "you must stand here beside the pond. See how
+peaceful it is. Your music will float across the water. It will sound
+like music from heaven."
+
+Fritz put on the homemade Pied Piper cloak. Then he stood beside the
+pond and began to play. Several people stopped, among them a group of
+students with books under their arms.
+
+"Is the young musician your brother?" asked one student of Mitzi.
+
+"Yes," answered Mitzi. "And I am his sister."
+
+[Illustration: MITZI WAS HAPPY]
+
+The youths laughed and gave her a coin.
+
+"Play some Mendelssohn, young one," they said to Fritz.
+
+The boy obligingly played what they requested. The audience grew. Some
+threw coins and asked Fritz to play certain tunes. He could play nearly
+everything they called for. Mrs. Toymaker had been a good teacher.
+Besides, Fritz could play anything after he had heard it once.
+
+Mitzi was very happy. She beamed at the crowd of listeners.
+
+"Now," she thought, "is the time to fetch Father." She whispered to
+Fritz, "I am going for Father. I shall be back presently. Play until I
+come."
+
+As Mitzi turned to leave, she bumped into a gentleman who carried a
+violin case under his arm. Mitzi did not know that this gentleman was an
+important music master. She hardly looked at him.
+
+She said quickly, "Excuse me, please," and pushed her way out of the
+crowd. She must go for her father.
+
+The music master stood quite still, listening. What was that he heard?
+What did he see? A little boy standing beside a pond, playing the violin--a
+little boy with a smiling face, playing the violin better than any of the
+music master's grown-up pupils. Who was this little boy? Where had he
+learned to play like that?
+
+The music master drew closer to Fritz. He asked Fritz to play compositions
+by Bach and Mozart. He was astonished at how well Fritz played them.
+
+In the meantime Mitzi hurried to her father's booth in the square.
+
+"Father," she cried, "come! Come quickly! I have something to show you."
+
+Mr. Toymaker jumped as if he had been shot.
+
+"What do you mean by startling me like that?" he said to Mitzi. "You are
+like a young thunderbolt!"
+
+Mitzi's cheeks were glowing. Her eyes danced.
+
+"Fritz is playing--" she began eagerly.
+
+But Mr. Toymaker cut her short. He was in a bad mood. He had sold no
+toys again today and he could not find his friend, Mr. Krauss. He was
+jealous, too, of the toyshop keepers who were selling their handsome
+wares. Now he spent his rage upon little Mitzi.
+
+"Stop!" he cried. "Do not speak again of that boy's silly playing! Go
+and bring him to me now. You and he shall keep my booth for me. I am
+going once more to look for Mr. Krauss."
+
+Mitzi's glowing cheeks turned pale. She pulled at her father's sleeve.
+
+"No, no! You must come with me," she pleaded. "Please, Father, close up
+the booth just for a little while, until we return, and come--"
+
+"Enough!" cried Mr. Toymaker. "Do you tell me what to do or do I tell
+you what to do? Now, go and fetch that lazy brother of yours. Bring him
+back here to help you keep my booth for me."
+
+[Illustration: FRITZ PLAYED]
+
+When poor, weeping Mitzi returned to the park, the gentleman with the
+violin case was still there. He stood very close to Fritz. The boy was
+playing a minuet. A rather large crowd still remained. Mitzi waited
+until Fritz finished playing the minuet. Then she went up to him.
+
+"Oh, Fritz," she said, "Father would not come with me. He wants us to go
+to the market place right away."
+
+Fritz let his violin fall to his side. A look of disappointment passed
+over his face and covered the smile.
+
+"Do not leave yet," said a voice. "Play some more."
+
+It was the music master speaking. Mitzi wiped a tear with the corner of
+her apron and looked at the gentleman with the violin case. His
+expression was kind.
+
+"We must go," she said to him. "But we shall be back again tomorrow."
+
+Mitzi did not know just why she said that. Only quite suddenly she had
+determined that she would be back tomorrow.
+
+Some one in the crowd called, "One more selection! Come, young one;
+play!"
+
+A coin came tumbling at Fritz's feet.
+
+"Yes, yes! More music, little fiddler! More music!" cried others.
+
+Mitzi sniffed to drive away her tears. Then she jumped upon a bench.
+From there she could look down upon the people. And Mitzi Toymaker began
+to make a speech!
+
+[Illustration: STOOD ON HER HEAD]
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen," she began.
+
+Fritz thought his sister looked like a little leader. Her head was
+thrown back. Her two plump legs were wide apart. Her arms were folded.
+Fritz had to smile.
+
+"I am glad, ladies and gentlemen," Mitzi said, "that you liked my
+brother's playing. Come back again tomorrow afternoon, and Fritz will
+give another concert!"
+
+The people clapped their hands and shouted, "Hoch (h[=o]k´)!" which is
+like "Hurrah."
+
+Then some one called out, "What can _you_ do, little girl?"
+
+Mitzi gave the speaker a quick glance.
+
+"I can do this," she said; whereupon she stood on her head.
+
+There was a loud laugh from the crowd.
+
+"Tomorrow, then!" cried several people.
+
+The crowd began to move away. But the music master hesitated. Should he
+say something? No, he would return tomorrow. He turned his steps in the
+direction of home. But he could not forget the wonderful playing he had
+just heard. Perhaps, after hearing the little musician again tomorrow,
+he would try to help the youngster.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+FRITZ AND HIS VIOLIN
+
+
+Sadly the brother and sister set off for the market square.
+
+"Never mind, Fritz," said Mitzi. "We will go back to the park tomorrow.
+The people liked your music. They will come again, and perhaps Father
+will come and--"
+
+Mitzi broke off suddenly. She stopped in the middle of the street with
+her mouth open.
+
+"Fritz! Fritz!" she cried. "Oh, Fritzie!"
+
+"What is the matter? What is it?" asked Fritz, puzzled.
+
+He could see nothing to disturb his sister like this. He had not been
+walking in mud puddles.
+
+"I have thought of the very thing!" said the girl. "I know just what we
+shall do. Oh, why didn't I think of it before?"
+
+"What is it?" asked her brother.
+
+They began to walk on again, but Mitzi was still in a state of
+excitement. She clutched Fritz's arm and started to talk. Her words
+tumbled over on top of one another, they were in such a hurry to come
+out.
+
+"You shall be a real Pied Piper, Fritz!" she chattered. "Tomorrow I'll
+make another speech in the park. I'll ask the people to follow you just
+as the children followed the Pied Piper. While you are playing you will
+walk away. You'll be like the Piper leading the rats and the children.
+Only, instead of leading them to a cave, you'll lead them to--"
+
+"Where?" asked Fritz, wide-eyed.
+
+"To Father!" said Mitzi.
+
+"Oh, Mitz!" cried Fritz, horrified.
+
+"Oh, rats!" said the girl. "You'll do as I say. What fun! I know the
+people will follow. They are such jolly people! And what a splendid
+way to show Father!"
+
+The sadness had left Mitzi. She beamed. She skipped along and sang,
+until Fritz caught some of her joy.
+
+They arrived at their father's booth. But the toy maker was not there.
+He had closed his stand. So the children went home to their wagon. They
+found their father awaiting them there. The toy maker was twirling his
+mustache. He had a strange expression on his face.
+
+"Now, Father," said Mitzi, "you can go and look for Mr. Krauss. Fritz
+and I will watch the booth for you."
+
+But Mr. Toymaker did not move. Instead he smiled in a way which left his
+eyes unsmiling.
+
+"I have decided not to go," he said. "I have decided to do something
+else."
+
+"What, Father?" asked Mitzi.
+
+"Tonight," said Mr. Toymaker, "we shall have sausage and sauerkraut and
+other good things for supper." Then he turned to Fritz, saying, "Give me
+the violin."
+
+The boy drew away his precious violin. Mitzi stood in front of her
+brother.
+
+[Illustration: "GIVE ME THE VIOLIN"]
+
+"Father," she asked, "why do you want Fritz's violin?"
+
+"Because I am going to sell it," said Mr. Toymaker. "It is a fine
+violin. It will bring much money. Besides, it is quite useless to me.
+Give it here."
+
+But neither child moved. Mitz and Fritz stood like two little statues.
+
+"Do you hear me?" cried Mr. Toymaker. "I want the violin. Give it to
+me."
+
+Still they did not move. They stood looking up at the toy maker like
+gingerbread children out of "Hansel and Gretel."
+
+Mr. Toymaker reached out his hand to take the violin from Fritz. But the
+boy put it behind his back.
+
+"Please, please," he said, "don't take it away from me, Father!"
+
+Now Mr. Toymaker really did not want to hurt Fritz any more than he
+could help. He loved this little fellow, even if he did think the boy to
+be only an idle, music-loving scamp.
+
+"Fritz," he said in a kinder tone, "you will soon be a man. You must
+learn to bear disappointments. Come, now! Give me the violin like a good
+boy."
+
+[Illustration: "PLEASE, FATHER"]
+
+As he spoke, the toy maker took the violin from his son's hands. Then
+he patted Fritz on the head.
+
+[Illustration: "YOU MUST LEARN TO HELP OTHERS"]
+
+"You must learn to help others, Fritz," he said. "You must, above all,
+help your father."
+
+Fritz longed to cry out and say, "But that is just what I want to do,
+Father!"
+
+Only he could not speak. His eyes were full of tears, and when he
+brushed the tears away, the toy maker was gone. So was the boy's beloved
+violin!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+THE PIED PIPER
+
+
+The Toymaker family had sausage and sauerkraut and other good things for
+supper. They ate their supper beside a camp fire near their wagon. That
+is, Mr. and Mrs. Toymaker did. But Mitz and Fritz could not eat. No,
+even Mitz could touch nothing--not even sausage!
+
+Mrs. Toymaker tried to comfort them, but it was hopeless. Fritz stared
+at the ground, and his heart ached. He thought he should never again
+play his violin. Mitzi sat with Frank's long nose on her lap and stroked
+the dog's floppy ears.
+
+"Tomorrow," thought Mitzi, "the crowd will come to the park to hear
+Fritz play, and there will be no Fritz!"
+
+Of course, Mitzi did not know that the music master would come, too. The
+kind music master would return. He would look for the little boy whose
+music had pleased him so much. He would wonder what had happened to the
+clever youngster whom he wanted to help. Mitzi did not know this. If she
+had known it, she would have been more unhappy than she already was.
+
+The next morning passed much the same as the day before. Mr. Toymaker
+sold nothing at his booth in the market place.
+
+At noon he said, "There is no use staying here any longer."
+
+He closed up his booth, and they went back to the wagon. After lunch Mr.
+and Mrs. Toymaker sat upon the steps of their wagon. They talked and
+talked about what they were to do.
+
+"We could go to some small town and settle down," said Mrs. Toymaker.
+"When winter comes, a wandering life will not be very pleasant. Mitz
+and Fritz should go to school. This gypsy life is not the best life for
+them."
+
+[Illustration: SAT UPON THE STEPS OF THEIR WAGON]
+
+Mr. Toymaker said, "That is quite true. Let us find a town where people
+are not spoiled by fine toys. There we shall settle and be content to
+live simply."
+
+"I do wish--" began Mrs. Toymaker.
+
+She had started to talk about Fritz. However, she knew that it made Mr.
+Toymaker angry. So she stopped.
+
+They sat together for a long time. Mrs. Toymaker knitted. Mr. Toymaker
+smoked a pipe. Both were so full of serious thoughts that they did not
+wonder about Mitz and Fritz. They did not wonder why the children had
+not been there since noon. As the shadows grew longer and a little late
+breeze blew up, Mrs. Toymaker arose.
+
+"I must prepare supper," she said. "I wonder where the children are."
+
+She called, "Fritz! Mitz!" But there was no answer.
+
+"What is that I see in the distance?" asked Mr. Toymaker.
+
+He shaded his eyes with his hand. He looked in the direction of the
+setting sun. Mrs. Toymaker looked, too. Black forms were coming toward
+them. A crowd of people was drawing near, following some one who made
+music.
+
+"Listen," said Mrs. Toymaker. "The notes of a violin!"
+
+Mr. Toymaker stood up. The music, sweet and lively, came to them more
+clearly. Slowly the forms of the people grew more distinct as they drew
+closer.
+
+"Why, it is a Pied Piper!" exclaimed Mrs. Toymaker. "It must be the joke
+of some children."
+
+But all the time Mrs. Toymaker thought she knew who it was. She thought
+she knew that it was really--Yes, now there could be no doubt about it!
+
+"It is Fritz!" cried Mrs. Toymaker. "It is our own little Fritz!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+THE MUSIC MASTER
+
+
+The strange procession stopped before the wagon of the toy maker. The
+Pied Piper continued his playing. The crowd stood listening. When the
+piece was finished, they clapped and threw coins and shouted, "Hoch!"
+
+Then a gentleman carrying a violin case hoisted the Pied Piper upon his
+shoulder. He walked over with the Pied Piper to where the toy maker
+stood.
+
+"Sir," said the violin-case gentleman, "I believe this is your son."
+
+Mr. Toymaker was so amazed that he could only nod his head.
+
+The gentleman went on, "Your son's playing has made us all very happy.
+We followed his music just as the children of long ago followed the
+Pied Piper of Hamelin."
+
+The people began to laugh and cheer and call for more music.
+
+But Mr. Violin-Case said, "The concert is over. Now I am going to see
+Mr. Toymaker alone."
+
+[Illustration: "HERE IS YOUR SON!"]
+
+When the people had left, Mr. Violin-Case and Mr. Toymaker went into the
+wagon together. There they stayed for quite a long time.
+
+Outside, Mrs. Toymaker drew her children close to her.
+
+"Tell me," she said. "Do tell me all about it."
+
+Mitzi said, "Good! I'll tell you, Mother. But first I must have a
+pretzel to eat. I have had nothing since morning."
+
+Mitzi helped herself to a fistful of the salty, twisted crackers. She
+began to eat and to talk at the same time--a feat which cannot be done
+very well.
+
+Her words sounded to Mrs. Toymaker like "Yummeemummee."
+
+The mother laughed and said, "Fritz had better tell me."
+
+Fritz began, "Mitzi believed all along that people would really like my
+music. She wanted to show Father. So today we went back to the same park
+where I played yesterday."
+
+By this time, Mitzi had swallowed her first pretzel, so she continued
+the story: "I stood upon a bench. I talked very loudly so everyone could
+hear. I said that our father had sold Fritz's violin and that Fritz
+could not play for them. I said I was sorry that we could not keep our
+promise and give another concert. Then the gennamemmaeppa--"
+
+"Mitzi!" laughed Mrs. Toymaker. "How can I understand you when you are
+eating pretzels?"
+
+"The gentleman stepped up to us," went on Fritz.
+
+"What gentlemen, dear?"
+
+"The one who is in the wagon with Father," said Fritz.
+
+"He has a red face, and he stands like this," said Mitzi.
+
+She stuck out her stomach trying to imitate the gentleman who was rather
+large.
+
+"Shame, Mitzi!" said her mother. "Go on, please, Fritz. Tell me the
+rest."
+
+"The gentleman said he would help us," Fritz continued. "He took this
+beautiful violin out of its case and gave it to me." Tenderly Fritz laid
+the violin in his mother's hands. "He told me to play it. I did, and he
+seemed to like what I played."
+
+[Illustration: "HE STANDS LIKE THIS"]
+
+"After the concert," interrupted Mitzi, "I jumped up on the bench again.
+I asked the people to follow Fritz just as if he were the Pied Piper."
+
+"At first," broke in Fritz, "they laughed and didn't want to. But the
+gentleman urged them to do it. He said it would be fun. He said he
+would like to see where I would lead them."
+
+"And this is where we led them," said Mitzi.
+
+"Now," said Fritz, "Father will know that what we told him is true."
+
+Mrs. Toymaker looked very happy. She hugged Fritz to her. Just then Mr.
+Toymaker came out of the wagon with the violin-case gentleman.
+
+"This is Mr. Schmitt," said the toy maker to his family. "Mr. Schmitt is
+a great music master from Berlin."
+
+Fritz's eyes began to pop. Mitzi sat down with a jolt, her mouth open.
+Mrs. Toymaker felt her heart beating very fast.
+
+The music master went up to Fritz and took his hand.
+
+"I have just had a talk with your father, Fritz," he said. "You are
+coming with me to Berlin. You are all coming to live in the big city of
+Berlin. And you, Fritz, will study and in time will become a great
+musician."
+
+Mr. Schmitt stayed to supper with the family. He sat with them beside
+their gypsy fire. He told them about Berlin and promised to help Mr.
+Toymaker because of Fritz's music.
+
+He said to the toy maker, "Your little boy has a gift from God. You must
+help him make it a gift to the world."
+
+As they sat about the fire after supper Mr. Schmitt told them about
+another boy.
+
+"Many years ago," he said, "there lived a boy named George Handel
+(H[)a]n´del). He was born in Halle (Häl´[~e]), a town not far from here.
+Today there is a statue of George Handel in the center of Halle. He
+became a famous composer. But when he was your age, Fritz, his father
+would not allow him to play."
+
+Fritz looked at his mother. Mitzi looked at her father. The toy maker
+looked away from them all.
+
+"You see," went on Mr. Schmitt, "George's father was a good man. But he
+did not love music. He wanted his son to be a doctor. Now, one day
+little George played for a powerful duke, who loved music. The duke
+decided to help young George.
+
+"He said to Mr. Handel, 'You are a good man. But your son will be a
+great man. His music will fill people's hearts with beauty. Can you do
+that?'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+BERLIN AND HAPPINESS
+
+
+The Toymakers and Mr. Schmitt flew to Berlin in an airplane. People in
+Germany travel by plane as easily as we travel by train and boat. Berlin
+is the capital of Germany. The Berlin airport is the largest in the
+world.
+
+As the children stepped out of the plane they heard music. They saw
+people sitting about at tables eating and drinking. These people were
+watching the landings of the different airships.
+
+"Come. We shall go to my home," said Mr. Schmitt. "I have a large house
+near the music school. I want you to stay there with me until you find a
+home of your own."
+
+They drove in a taxicab through the Brandenburg Gate and into a famous
+street, Unter den Linden ([=O][=o]n´t[~e]r d[)e]n L[)i]n´d[)e]n). New
+York has Fifth Avenue. London has Piccadilly Circus. Chicago has Lake
+Shore Drive. Edinburgh has Princes Street. And Berlin has Unter den
+Linden.
+
+[Illustration: THE BRANDENBURG GATE IN BERLIN]
+
+They drove along the wide, shady boulevard with its flower beds, lawns,
+and fountains. What a splendid street!
+
+The children's joy and excitement made them unusually quiet. It was
+very wonderful to be riding through this fine city and to know that
+their struggles and hardships were over.
+
+[Illustration: UNTER DEN LINDEN IN BERLIN]
+
+Mr. Toymaker had sold his wagon. Mr. Schmitt planned to find him work in
+a big Berlin toy shop. Later, the kind music master intended to find a
+cosy home for the family. Mitz and Fritz were going to school. Fritz
+would study music and practice on his violin. One day he would be able
+to give real concerts.
+
+Mr. Schmitt lived in an old-fashioned house, which seemed beautiful to
+the children. It was full of ornaments and heavy furniture. Great
+pictures of musicians hung upon the walls.
+
+Mitz, Fritz, and their dog immediately explored the house from attic to
+cellar. In the kitchen, Mitzi found a jolly cook, who gave her cookies.
+Yes, Mitzi knew that she was going to like Berlin!
+
+Fritz found musical instruments in every room. Sounds of piano and
+violin and flute came from all quarters of the house. No, never before
+in all his life had Fritz been so happy!
+
+That evening, when the children were in bed, Mr. and Mrs. Toymaker sat
+talking.
+
+"It is true," said Mr. Toymaker to his wife. "You were right. Fritz has
+turned beauty into gold. People will pay for things even if they cannot
+touch them."
+
+Mrs. Toymaker replied, "But even if they cannot touch music, music can
+touch them."
+
+At last Mr. Toymaker agreed.
+
+"It can touch their hearts," he said.
+
+[Illustration: THEY WERE GOING TO LIKE BERLIN]
+
+
+THE END
+
+
+
+
+PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY
+
+
+ Bach bäk
+
+ Bachfisch bäk´fish
+
+ Bayreuth b[=i]´roit´
+
+ Beethoven b[=a]´t[=o]-v[)e]n
+
+ Bingen b[)i]ng´[)e]n
+
+ Bonn b[=o]n
+
+ Charlemagne shär´l[+e]-m[=a]n
+
+ Coblenz k[=o]´bl[)e]nts
+
+ Dachshund däks´h[)oo]nt
+
+ Danke dän´k[~e]
+
+ Danube d[)a]n´[=u]b
+
+ Denkmal d[)e][n,]k´mäl
+
+ Eisenach [=I]´z[)e]n-äk
+
+ Goethe gû´t[~e]
+
+ Gretel gr[)e]t´[)e]l
+
+ Gutenberg g[=oo]´t[)e]n-b[)e]rk
+
+ Halle häl´[~e]
+
+ Hamelin hä´m[)e]lin
+
+ Hanau hä´nou
+
+ Handel h[)a]n´d[)e]l
+
+ Hansel h[)a]n´s[)e]l
+
+ Harz härts
+
+ Hoch h[=o]k´
+
+ Johann y[=o]´hän
+
+ Kaiser k[=i]´z[~e]r
+
+ Koppelberg k[)o]p´p[)e]l-b[)e]rg
+
+ Leipzig l[=i]p´s[)i]k
+
+ Lorelei l[=o]´r[)e]-l[=i]
+
+ Einstein [=i]n´st[=i]n
+
+ Ludwig l[=oo]t´v[)i]k
+
+ Mainz m[=i]nts
+
+ Mendelssohn m[)e]n´d[)e]l-s[=o]n
+
+ Moselle m[=o]z[)e]l´
+
+ Mittenwald mit´ten-väld
+
+ Mozart m[=o]´tzärt
+
+ Nuremberg n[=u]´r[)e]m-bûrg
+
+ Prague präk
+
+ Siegfried s[=e]g´fr[=e]d
+
+ Seine s[=a]n
+
+ Ströbeck strö´bek
+
+ Thames t[)e]mz
+
+ Unter den Linden [=oo]n´t[~e]r d[)e]n l[)i]n´d[)e]n
+
+ Wartburg värt´b[)oo]rk
+
+ Wagner väg´n[~e]r
+
+ Weimar v[=i]´mär
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+
+1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_.
+
+2. The list of illustrations with their page numbers have been added
+after the table of contents.
+
+3. Images have been moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closest
+paragraph break.
+
+4. In this etext, a letter with a diacritical mark is enclosed within
+square brackets. For example, diacritical marks for letter 'e' are shown
+below:
+
+ [)e] represents 'letter e with breve above'
+ [=e] 'letter e with macron above'
+ [+e] 'letter e with up tack above'
+ [~e] 'letter e with tilde above'
+
+Similar representation is used for vowels other than 'e'. The following
+three also appear within this etext:
+
+ [n,] represents 'letter n with cedilla below'
+ [)oo] 'letters oo with combined breve above'
+ [=oo] 'letters oo with combined macron above'
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Mitz and Fritz of Germany, by Madeline Brandeis
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40608 ***
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