Page:Three stories by Vítězslav Hálek (1886).pdf/19



HEN Venik was twelve years old, his father Riha took him from school. “You must help us now,” he said. “You will be our little shepherd, and will drive off the sheep to the hillside; then in the afternoon I will bring you your dinner there, and you will come home yourself for the evening meal.”

Venik spun round with delight on his right heel. His teeth flashed out from his gums, and his father added, “Take your violin with you to the pasturage.” After this, Venik was like one possessed; he skipped about the apartment, till he had skipped up to his violin, taken it down from its nail, stretched several of the strings, and played and skipped about at the same time.

Venik, it must be understood, learnt the violin at school, and on Sunday used to play primo in the gallery so well that the schoolmaster composed a