"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 ratherlarge.
"Shame, Mitzi!" said her mother. "Go on, please, Fritz. Tell me therest."
"The gentleman said he would help us," Fritz continued. "He took thisbeautiful violin out of its case and gave it to me." Tenderly Fritz laidthe violin in his mother's hands. "He told me to play it. I did, and heseemed to like what I played."
"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 thegentleman urged them to do it. He said it would be fun. He said hewould 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 isa 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 arecoming with me to Berlin. You are all coming to live in the big city ofBerlin. And you, Fritz, will study and in time will become a greatmusician."
Mr. Schmitt stayed to supper with the family. He sat with them besidetheir 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 musthelp him make it a gift to the world."
As they sat about the fire after supper Mr. Schmitt told them aboutanother boy.
"Many years ago," he said, "there lived a boy named George Handel(H[)a]n'del). He was born in Halle (Hael'[~e]), a town not far from here.Today there is a statue of George Handel in the center of Halle. Hebecame a famous composer. But when he was your age, Fritz, his fatherwould not allow him to play."
Fritz looked at his mother. Mitzi looked at her father. The toy makerlooked away from them all.
"You see," went on Mr. Schmitt, "George's father was a good man. But hedid not love music. He wanted his son to be a doctor. Now, one daylittle George played for a powerful duke, who loved music. The dukedecided to help young George.
"He said to Mr. Handel, 'You are a good man. But your son will be agreat man. His music will fill people's hearts with beauty. Can you dothat?'"
CHAPTER XVIII
BERLIN AND HAPPINESS
The Toymakers and Mr. Schmitt flew to Berlin in an airplane. People inGermany travel by plane as easily as we travel by train and boat. Berlinis the capital of Germany. The Berlin airport is the largest in theworld.
As the children stepped out of the plane they heard music. They sawpeople sitting about at tables eating and drinking. These people werewatching the landings of the different airships.
"Come. We shall go to my home," said Mr. Schmitt. "I have a large housenear the music school. I want you to stay there with me until you find ahome of your own."
They drove in a taxicab through the Brandenburg Gate and into a famousstreet, Unter den Linden ([=O][=o]n't[~e]r d[)e]n L[)i]n'd[)e]n). NewYork has Fifth Avenue. London has Piccadilly Circus. Chicago has LakeShore Drive. Edinburgh has Princes Street. And Berlin has Unter denLinden.
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 wasvery wonderful to be riding through this fine city and to know thattheir struggles and hardships were over.
UNTER DEN LINDEN IN BERLIN]
Mr. Toymaker had sold his wagon. Mr. Schmitt planned to find him work ina big Berlin toy shop. Later, the kind music master intended to find acosy home for the family. Mitz and Fritz were going to school. Fritzwould study music and practice on his violin. One day he would be ableto give real concerts.
Mr. Schmitt lived in an old-fashioned house, which seemed beautiful tothe children. It was full of ornaments and heavy furniture. Greatpictures of musicians hung upon the walls.
Mitz, Fritz, and their dog immediately explored the house from attic tocellar. 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 andviolin and flute came from all quarters of the house. No, never beforein all his life had Fritz been so happy!
That evening, when the children were in bed, Mr. and Mrs. Toymaker sattalking.
"It is true," said Mr. Toymaker to his wife. "You were right. Fritz hasturned beauty into gold. People will pay for things even if they cannottouch them."
Mrs. Toymaker replied, "But even if they cannot touch music, music cantouch them."
At last Mr. Toymaker agreed.
"It can touch their hearts," he said.
THEY WERE GOING TO LIKE BERLIN]
THE END
PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY
Bach baek
Bachfisch baek'fish
Bayreuth b[=i]'roit'
Beethoven b[=a]'t[=o]-v[)e]n
Bingen b[)i]ng'[)e]n
Bonn b[=o]n
Charlemagne shaer'l[+e]-m[=a]n
Coblenz k[=o]'bl[)e]nts
Dachshund daeks'h[)oo]nt
Danke daen'k[~e]
Danube d[)a]n'[=u]b
Denkmal d[)e][n,]k'mael
Eisenach [=I]'z[)e]n-aek
Goethe gu't[~e]
Gretel gr[)e]t'[)e]l
Gutenberg g[=oo]'t[)e]n-b[)e]rk
Halle hael'[~e]
Hamelin hae'm[)e]lin
Hanau hae'nou
Handel h[)a]n'd[)e]l
Hansel h[)a]n's[)e]l
Harz haerts
Hoch h[=o]k'
Johann y[=o]'haen
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-vaeld
Mozart m[=o]'tzaert
Nuremberg n[=u]'r[)e]m-burg
Prague praek
Siegfried s[=e]g'fr[=e]d
Seine s[=a]n
Stroebeck stroe'bek
Thames t[)e]mz
Unter den Linden [=oo]n't[~e]r d[)e]n l[)i]n'd[)e]n
Wartburg vaert'b[)oo]rk
Wagner vaeg'n[~e]r
Weimar v[=i]'maer
Transcriber's Notes:
1. Passages in italics are surrounded by _underscores_.
2. The list of illustrations with their page numbers have been addedafter the table of contents.
3. Images have b
een moved from the middle of a paragraph to the closestparagraph break.
4. In this etext, a letter with a diacritical mark is enclosed withinsquare brackets. For example, diacritical marks for letter 'e' are shownbelow:
[)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 followingthree 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'
Mitz and Fritz of Germany Page 6
