A strange story is told by the peasants in Holstein of an invisible
flute-player, who is said to have haunted, about fifty years ago, a
farm-house situated near the river Elbe. Some of the children of the
farmer who owned the house are still alive.
The mysterious affair commenced in a cabbage garden behind the house.
There the people often heard flute-playing, but no one could make out
whence it came. Gradually the invisible flutist intruded into the house.
More and more frequently he came, until at last he took up his abode in
the house altogether. Sometimes he played his flute in the sitting-room;
sometimes in one of the bedrooms; at other times in the cellar, or in
the garret. Occasionally also he paid a visit to a neighbouring house.
The people on the farm became quite used to him; and when the children,
or the servant lads and lasses, were disposed to enjoy a little dancing,
they would just name a certain tune, or sing a bar or two of it, and ask
him to play it; and directly they heard the desired tune. When the
milkmaid was occupied in the dairy, she sometimes took an apple in her
hand, for fun, and said: "Now, my boy, play me a nice air, and thou
shalt have an apple!" In a moment the apple vanished out of her hand,
and the music commenced.
In the course of time, however, the invisible flutist became very
intrusive, and at last he proved quite a nuisance. One night he would
amuse himself by breaking all the windows in the house; another night he
had his gambols in the kitchen, turning everything topsy-turvy; and at
mid-day, when the family had sat down to dinner, it sometimes happened
that the large dish of stew before them, from which all were eating, was
emptied in an instant by invisible hands. They would then jump up and
run about the room, beating the air with their spoons. When they thought
they had at last driven the fellow into a corner of the room, suddenly
they heard him spitefully playing his flute in another corner.
In short, the annoyance became quite unbearable. There was no peace in
the house. The farmer everywhere expressed the wish that he could find
somebody who had the power to expel the invisible flute-player; he did
not mind the expense. At last there came a clever man from the
neighbouring town, who offered to settle the matter; he only wanted to
know beforehand whether he should show and banish the flutist in his
real figure, or in the figure of a poodle.
The farmer said: "I would rather not see him at all! Here are ten
Thalers; all I want is to get rid of him, and to have peace in my own
house."
By means of queer rhymes, and smoke, the clever man from town actually
succeeded in driving out the troublesome guest, and no mysterious
flute-playing has been heard since on the farm.[71]