"I don't want your money," said the old woman, testily, "and shall
return it as soon as I have sold the other goat;"--whereupon, she took
the leading-string from the "sennerin" and hobbled off with her
new-found property, apparently as little pleased as possible.

The next day, the five florins were sent back, and then Stephan told his
mother, for the first time, how he had promised to return the money if
he ever found the goat again. This now seemed impossible, for he knew
neither the name nor address of the gentleman. The money was, therefore,
put away safely, and the savings of a few months soon made up the
original sum of six florins, but still nothing could be heard of the
giver.

Time wore on, and the boy was rapidly becoming an expert workman. He had
regularly swept the warehouse for three years, then finding he could
earn more by violin-making during the time so occupied, he resigned in
favor of a boy as poor as he had been. Brand had pronounced him quite
worthy of regular work, having often tested his ability by leaving to
him the most difficult parts of the instruments. He had made himself a
zither, and could play all those national airs so peculiarly the
property of the mountaineers, and which are so suited to the plaintive
sweetness of that instrument.

Before Stephan was eighteen, his fame as a zither-player had spread far
and wide; no marriage, or festival of any kind, was complete without his
well-looking, good-humored face.

One day, Stephan was putting away his tools when he was sent for by a
nobleman, who had stopped overnight at the village, and he soon came