_One should be ready to help another--especially should a boy help
a girl._
Once there lived in Northern Germany a little boy named Kris. Kris
loved music very much, but his mother and father were too poor to
buy him an instrument on which to play. One day he went to walk in
the woods, and while there he cut a piece of wood and made a pipe
on which he could play.
It was a poor kind of an instrument, but what beautiful music he
played on it! When his father and mother heard him they shouted for
joy. Kris decided to go to town and play for the people there, in
order to make a little money.
As he was going along the road to the forest, he heard some one
cry, “Help! Help!” He listened and heard the cry again. He started
in the direction of the cry, and when he had gone a little distance
he saw a little girl named Christina, with whom he often played,
standing on a high rock with a huge bear growling fiercely at the
bottom.
Kris was terrified, but he did not run away. When Christina saw
him, she exclaimed: “Kris, save me! Save me!”
Kris was a brave boy, but his courage almost failed him when he
saw the huge bear. He wondered how he could save Christina. At
last he thought of his pipe and began to play so as to attract the
notice of the bear. The bear turned round to see where the music
came from, and for the first time saw Kris. He started towards him,
growling fiercely as he came.
When Kris saw the bear coming toward him he shouted to Christina:
“Run home as fast as you can and get father to come and kill him.
Maybe I can keep him off until father can get here. Hurry!”
Kris played on bravely in spite of the fact that the bear was
coming towards him. He would not run while Christina was in danger.
The bear stopped and listened to the music. He seemed delighted and
ceased growling. Kris played his best, and the bear lay down and
stretched out his paws as if he liked it. He got up afterwards and
began to sway with the time of the music as if he would like to
dance.
Christina climbed down from the rock and ran home and brought her
father with his gun. They expected to find Kris eaten up by the
bear, but when they came near they heard him still playing, and as
they crept down and peered through the bushes, they saw the old
bear get up from the ground, shake himself, and slowly disappear
in the forest. The music had charmed him, and Kris had saved
Christina’s life and his own by his sweet music.