Page:Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales (1888).djvu/316

 This was the tutor’s speech, certainly rather a long one; but he had been busily engaged cutting the flute while he talked.

At the castle one day, a great company were assembled. Many of the guests came from the surrounding neighbourhood, and from the capital. Some of the ladies were dressed very tastefully, and others without any taste at all; and the great hall was quite full of people. The clergymen of the neighbourhood stood respectfully together in a corner of the room, and looked as if they were preparing for a funeral. This was, however, a party of pleasure, waiting for the amusements to commence. A great concert was about to take place, both vocal and instrumental; and the selections, being of the best kind, were likely to delight every one. The little baron brought his flute with him, but he could not produce a single note upon it, neither could his papa; therefore the flute seemed useless.

“You are a performer, I presume,” said a young cavalier to the tutor; “if you can play upon a flute as well as make it, you must be a genius, and deserve a place of honour.”

“No, indeed,” he replied; “I only keep pace with the times, as every one must in these days.”

“But you will entertain us with a performance on the curious little instrument, will you not?” he replied, handing to the tutor as he spoke the flute which he had cut from the willow-tree by the pool; and then he announced aloud that the tutor was about to perform a solo on the flute. Now it could easily be seen that they only wanted to make fun of him, and therefore the tutor would not play, although he could play very well; but they crowded round him, and so urged him, that at last he took the flute and placed it to his lips. What a wonderful flute it was! As he blew, there went forth a sustained sound like the whistle of a steam engine, which echoed far and wide over the courtyard gardens, and wood, and miles away into the country; and, at the same moment, like a roaring, rushing wind, sounded the words, “Everything in its right place.”

What changes followed! The baron was carried away by the wind, straight from the hall into the shepherd’s cot; and the shepherd flew, not into the hall, which was not his right place, but into the servants’ apartments, among the smart footmen, who were strutting about in their silk stockings; and these proud dependants were horrorstruck at the thought of such a person daring to sit down to table with them. But in the hall, the young baroness flew up to the place of honour, at the head of the table, which was really her right place, and the clergyman’s son found himself placed near her; and there the two sat as if they were a bridal pair. An old count, of one of the most ancient families in the country, remained untouched in the place of honour, for the wonderful flute acted with perfect justice, as man ought to act always. The witty cavalier, who had been the cause of the flute-playing, and who could only boast of being his father’s son, flew head over heels into the hen-house; but this was not all. For a whole mile round the sounds of the flute were heard, and strange events happened. A rich banker and his family, who were driving in a carriage and four, were blown quite out of the carriage, and could not even