“The Enchanted Fiddle.” The Turnip Princess: and other newly discovered fairy tales, Franz Xaver von Schönwerth, New York: Penguin Books, 2015, pp. 158-160.

Tale Summary

There was once a boy named Jacob, who irritated his mother so greatly that one day she ordered him to leave home and find a master, even if it was the devil himself. He set out to find an apprenticeship and met a man, whom he told what his mother had said about the devil. Jacob was told that in that case, he would be quite welcome with him. He took the boy to an underground cave, where he was ordered to tend fires under cauldrons and commanded to never look inside of them. One day when the devil was visiting the world above ground, Jacob became curious and lifted one of the lids and heard the humming sound of souls who had been damned. He was horrified to realize his grandmother was among them, and when she recognized him she told him that soon the devil would return to let him go, but that he must not take more than three coins from his master or his neck would be broken. When Satan returned, he knew what had happened, and gave Jacob his wages and allowed him to leave. On the surface he met three beggars, and divided his only coins among them. He was told that for his generosity he would be granted three wishes. Jacob wished to end up in heaven, to have a musket that always hits its target, and a fiddle that would make everyone dance to its tune. He entered a shooting contest and won all the prizes, but was sentenced to death after the other contestants accused him of black magic. When Jacob climbed the ladder to his execution, he asked to hold his beloved fiddle one last time. He was granted this request, and immediately started playing it. The executioner and the rest of the crowd could not stop dancing in a frenzy, and eventually fell to the ground from exhaustion, allowing Jacob to escape. Ever since then, Jacob has appeared occasionally when people are dancing, and sometimes someone will drop dead while he is fiddling.