There is a bedtime story (with a musical theme) that has been passed down through my branch of the Schafer family. I don't know if it was made up, maybe someone took the theme from the old quotation "music calms the savage beast" and fixed it up a bit. Or maybe it originated from an old German folk tale.... I thought it would be fun to see if it sounded familiar to anyone. As background: before emigrating to Wisconsin in 1847, my ggrandfather Dionis Schaefer taught music at Pruell (I was always told it was University of Bonn, but I see notes that say Pruell, need to find out where that is...). In 1869 Dionis and family travelled to the Territory of Washington (travelling overland to San Francisco via wagon and train, to Victoria BC via ship, and then taking another ship to Olympia). This would be the Olympic Peninsula area of Washington, at the time, a very densely forested area with no roads (lots of rain, 70-80 inches of rain a year). Travel was by dugout canoe and raft along the rivers. Their homestead was along the Satsop River in the midst of a dense forest. They still managed to have music. My grandfather carved a fiddle for himself during those early years. So here is the story: The Story of Fiddler Sam There once was a fiddler who made a living traveling from home to home playing at celebrations. If there was a wedding or any other event, he was asked to come and play. One night, late in the evening, after he had finished playing at a wedding he declined his hosts invitation to spend the night, and set off through the dark forest for home. He was on foot, and it was very dark, but he could hear sounds. He suddenly realized that he was being followed by wolves, many wolves. He began to walk faster, and they moved faster too. Soon he was running, his fiddle and bow in hand, with the wolves hot on his heels. Quickly he jumped on a large stump and tried to fend off the wolves that leapt and snapped at him. He started to play his fiddle and the wolves began to quiet themselves. Soon they were sitting. The next day people began to look for him. They followed the sound of the fiddle and found him sitting on a stump surrounded by wolves. The End. And that is about as elaborate as I ever heard it. :~) (by the way, I think all the wolves in Washington have been killed, although they're trying to bring them back in....) Sue Schafer/Schaefer Seattle