'Heaven preserve us!' cried the Jew, 'he had no sword, but he had a
gun on his shoulder and a fiddle round his neck. The villain is easily
to be recognised.'
So the Judge sent out men in pursuit of the honest Servant, who had
walked on slowly. They soon overtook him, and the purse of gold was
found on him. When he was brought before the Judge, he said--
'I never touched the Jew, nor did I take his money away; he offered it
to me of his own free will if I would only stop playing, because he
could not bear my music.'
'Heaven defend us!' screamed the Jew, 'his lies are as thick as flies
on the wall.'
And the Judge did not believe him either, and said:
'That is a very lame excuse; no Jew ever did such a thing.' So he
sentenced the honest Servant to the gallows for having committed a
robbery upon the king's highway.
When he was being led away, the Jew screamed after him; 'You vagabond,
you dog of a fiddler, now you will get your deserts!'
The Servant mounted the ladder to the gallows quite quietly, with the
halter round his neck; but at the last rung he turned round and said
to the Judge: 'Grant me one favour before I die.'
'Certainly,' said the Judge, 'as long as you don't ask for your life.'
'Not my life,' answered the Servant. 'I only ask to play my fiddle
once more.'
[Illustration: Dancing as hard as he could.]
The Jew raised a tremendous cry. 'Don't allow it, your worship, for
heaven's sake, don't allow it!'
But the Judge said: 'Why should I deny him that short pleasure? His
wish is granted, and there's an end of the matter!'
He could not have refused even if he had wished, because of the
Mannikin's gift to the Servant.