BONN AND BEETHOVEN
"Please, Fritz, do not look so sad," pleaded Mitzi.
They had arrived near the town of Bonn (B[+o]n) on the Rhine. In the
distance they could see the buildings of a large university.
Fritz had not smiled since their terrible experience in Coblenz. Now,
however, Mitzi hoped to cheer him.
"See, Fritz," she said. "We are in the town of Beethoven
(B[=a]´t[=o]-v[)e]n)."
At the sound of this name Fritz's eyes brightened. Beethoven was one of
the greatest musicians that ever lived.
"I have asked Father to let us wander through the streets," said Mitzi.
"We may even go to the house where Beethoven was born.
Come, Fritz."
[Illustration: BONN]
[Illustration: "DO NOT LOOK SO SAD"]
The boy and girl started off together for the pretty little village.
Later, Mr. and Mrs. Toymaker set off for the market place to sell their
wares.
"I do wish you would listen to Fritz's playing," said Mrs. Toymaker, as
they walked along. "He has been so unhappy since that day you scolded
him. Perhaps, after all, our son may be a real musician."
"Say no more about that," growled Mr. Toymaker. "I'll have no idle
musicians in my family. Look at all the starving tune makers in the
world! They cannot even support themselves. No! Music is foolish!"
"But," said Mrs. Toymaker, "you forget that Beethoven--"
"He was different!" snapped Mr. Toymaker. "We cannot all be geniuses!"
So what could poor Mrs. Toymaker say? Often the good lady had wondered
why it was that her husband wanted Fritz to make toys. Surely the making
of toys had not proved a happy trade for Mr. Toymaker! But it was very
difficult to argue with him, so his wife did not try.
The children visited Beethoven's house. It is now a museum. In it are
such relics as the musician's letters, his piano, and even his ear
trumpets. For Beethoven became deaf. Imagine such a thing as a deaf
composer! Yet this wonderful man composed some of his most beautiful
music even after he could not hear.
[Illustration: BIRTHPLACE OF BEETHOVEN--BONN]
"I have read many things about Beethoven," said Fritz to Mitzi. "But the
part I like to read about is when he was a boy."
Then Fritz told his sister some of the things he had read: "One night
when Ludwig was asleep, his father came home and woke him up. He stood
at this very gate and called, 'Up, up, Ludwig, and play!' His father
kept him at the piano all night long. Next day Ludwig was so tired that
he could not keep awake at school."
"Why did his father do that?" asked Mitzi indignantly.
"Because," answered Fritz, "he wanted Ludwig to be a great pianist and
give concerts."
There is a statue of Beethoven in the main square of Bonn. In Germany a
statue is called a "denkmal," which means a "think over." As Mitz and
Fritz looked upon this "think over," they thought over many things.
"It seems strange," sighed Mitzi, "that Ludwig's father forced him to
play, while your father forbids you to."
Fritz laughed.
"You silly!" he said. "I am not Ludwig van Beethoven."
Mitzi began to look like a fierce young lion. She really could look
that way sometimes.
"No," she said, "but you are Fritz! And you can play the violin more
beautifully than any other boy in the world."
"Oh, Mitz, what are you saying?" laughed her brother.
But Mitzi was firm.
"One day we shall see," she said.
Mr. Toymaker sold enough toys that day to buy dinner. Next day the
family started off again along the Rhine.
Then, after many long days of traveling, the Toymakers at last reached
the town of Hamelin. This is the scene of the Pied Piper tale. It is
where something remarkable is supposed to have happened to children
years and years ago. Hamelin is also the place where something really
did happen to Mitzi.