This week is an extra week, so here is a folktale. (This folktale is untrue, however was inspired by true events.) By the way, can you tell which fairy tale this one is loosely based on?
Now, I know you wouldn't dream of putting fish on your instruments. That would be awful.
Now, this story was told to me by my
great-grandfather almost 20 years ago.
You see, there was a certain group of
people that got in the habit of performing some of their music with
fish on their instruments. As you can imagine, this was the source of
infinite confusion for their diverse audiences. However, no one had
the courage to ask why such a renowned group of musicians did
something so strange.
One day, a little girl with her
parents was watching them perform. Finally, she turned to her mother
and said: “Mommy, why do they put fish
on their instruments?” The girl was too young realize she was being
rude, and, as a result, talked so loudly the musicians heard.
“Well,”
said the leader, kneeling down, “I'll tell you why.
“For
a long while, all of us only played American music. Eventually, we
got sick of that, and decided to play music from as many countries as
the human race had created. One day, we came across some French
music, and, right at the beginning, someone had written: 'Sardines.'
We all thought this was very odd, but we had to do as the music said.
I had our violinist buy sardines from the grocery store, and we put
them on our instruments.” He smiled at the girl and stood up.
“But
that's silly!” the girl cried. “Show me the music!”
“Now,
now, honey,” the girl's mother said. “Leave them be.” She
turned apologetically to the band. “We should go.”
The
leader, however, smiled. “No, no, it's quite all right.” He
brought their music to the girl.
“Why,
that says sourdines,
not sardines! It just
means mute in French!”
The girl exclaimed. “What's 'mute'?”
For,
you see, the girl was bilingual.
And
that is how a small girl made fools of some of the most famed
musicians in all the land.
Spruce Nogard
