MUSIC AND ANIMALS.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."_1
Sia,—The German tale of a fiddler pursued by wolves alluded to in " Orpheus at the Zoo," in the Spectator of October 10th, is the subject of a ballad by Gustav Hartwig, a translation of which, " The Last String," is contained in Sir
Theodore Martin's " The Song of the Bell, and other Transla- tions." The fiddler, however, according to the German legend, is not, as recorded in "Orpheus at the Zoo," saved by the accidental breaking of a string, by afterwards playing con- tinuously, but immediately on finding himself surrounded by
wolves,- " He pulls himself up ; in his trembling hand
The bow across the strings is spanned, And they moan, and they groan, and they wail and sing,- ' Is there no one, no one, that help will bring ? ' " —I am, Sir, &c.,
Albemarle Club, October 12th. GUSTAV HIRSCH.
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