Adapted from the story by Włodzimierz Perzyński and translated into English by Anna Piwowarska
Directed and produced by Amy Drozdowska.
Once upon a time there lived a Musician, who wandered the streets and courtyards, playing his violin. He played beautifully and people willingly threw him a penny or two. However, the Musician had a wife and four hungry children and the money he earned was not enough for them all to live on.
There came a week, that although the Musician played every minute of every day, he didn’t earn a single penny. He was so angry that he hit his violin with his bow, so hard that all the strings split.
His violin was now completely useless and he had no way to earn money. Realizing what he’d done, he fell into despair and decided to drown himself. So, he went to the riverside, closed his eyes and counted to three. However, his courage failed him and he didn’t jump.
“Counting to three is too little - I’ll count to ten and then I’ll jump,” he said to himself.
So, he closed his eyes and counted to ten, but again his courage failed him and he didn‘t jump.
“Counting to ten is also too little. I’ll count to a hundred and then I’ll be ready to jump.”
So, he closed his eyes for a third time and started to count. When he got to fifty, he heard a voice behind him:
“Why are you counting?” asked the voice.
The Musician opened his eyes and saw a Fisherman who was looking at him curiously. In his hand he held a Fishing rod and on his back he had a basket full of Fish.
“Imagine how happy my wife and children would be if I brought back a few fish for supper?” thought the Musician. So, he took off his hat and in a humble voice said:
“Please sir, give me a few of your fish”.
The Fisherman laughed.
“If you want fish, then go fishing!” he replied cruelly.
“I would, except I don’t have a fishing rod. You seem to be going home now. Why don’t you lend me your rod and I’ll give it back to you when you return.” pleaded the Musician.
“Yeah, right!” said the Fisherman “Like I’m going to lend my brand new fishing rod to some ruffian!”
He looked at the Musician with scorn and then said.
“Although, I do have an old fishing rod. I can sell it to you, if you want.”
“I don’t have any money’ answered the Musician in a small voice.
“So, why are you even bothering me?!” snapped the Fisherman and he turned around and walked away.
Once upon a time, the Musician had been very proud and would have never dreamt of asking anyone for anything but poverty and hunger had humbled him. He ran after the Fisherman and started to tell him about his wife and his children and the hunger they felt daily. But the Fisherman, didn’t even listen to him and just carried on walking, whistling as he went.
Suddenly, an idea came to the Musician. He would offer the Fisherman his violin, in return for his old fishing rod. Of course, the violin didn’t have any strings but even without strings it was still more valuable than a fishing rod. The Musician wavered before he said anything as he was very attached to his violin. But then he couldn’t buy himself new strings anyway, and the fish in the Fisherman’s basket looked so tasty… So finally he proposed the exchange. The Fisherman was intrigued. He stopped walking and looked at the Musician.
“Go on then,” he said “Show me that violin of yours.”
So the Musician showed him his violin, but when the Fisherman saw that it had no strings he was furious. He took the instrument and with all his strength, he hit the Musician over the head with it. The strength of the blow caused the Musician’s hat to fall off. The hat was old and holey and when the Fisherman saw it, he started to laugh, kicking it along the dusty road.
”Why don’t you make yourself a net with your hat? Maybe you’ll catch some fish!” he said cruelly as he walked off.
The Musician’s eyes filled with tears. He picked up his hat, dusted it off and sat back down on the riverside. The Fisherman’s joke about fishing with his hat rang in his ears. He sat gloomily for a while, when he noticed a piece of string lying on the ground. He had nothing to lose. So, he picked the string up, tied it to his hat, then dropped his hat in the water and waited.
To be honest, he didn’t really believe that he was actually going to catch something when suddenly there was a pulling on the string. It was so strong that the Musician nearly fell into the water! When he had pulled out his holey hat, he was amazed at what he saw. In it sat an enormous fish - a pike, to be exact. The Fish jumped out of the hat, stood on its tail and spoke in a human voice.
“Dearest Musician, if you don’t fry me, then I’ll dance for you.”
And immediately, it started to dance, whistling all the melodies that the Musician had played on his violin. The Musician rubbed his eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing.
He thought that maybe he had dozed off on the riverbank and that this was all just a dream. So, to make sure that it wasn’t just a dream, he pinched himself on the leg.
The Fish stopped dancing and started to laugh.
“Don’t be surprised, that I can dance. Play me a tune on your violin, and I’ll dance even more beautifully for you.”
“I can’t, I don’t have any strings” said the Musician, finally believing that he had indeed caught a Fish that could speak and dance.
The Fish waved its fin, casually.
“If someone can play, they can play anything. Make some violin strings out of that piece of string”.
The Musician wasn’t entirely convinced but as he was talking to a dancing pike Fish, then perhaps he might as well try and play on a piece of string. So he untied the string from his hat, cut it with a small knife that he carried with him and made some violin strings. He attached the strings to his violin and to his amazement, they played even more beautifully that his real ones had.
“Play a waltz!” shouted out the Fish.
The Musician played a waltz and the Fish started to dance. It danced till it dropped, literally, as in the end it fell on the sand gasping with tiredness.
However, very quickly the Fish straightened back up and stood on its tail.
“Now, play me a polka!” it shouted.
But the Musician put his violin down and said “Enough.”
He didn’t want the Fish to get too tired. It occurred to him that if he went into town and showed it to people, he would certainly make a lot of money.
“Come on”, he said to the Fish, “We’re going into town.”
However, the Fish made a face and said that it would much rather stay here, by the riverside and dance. The Musician pleaded with it, explaining that they’ll both become very rich and maybe even famous. But the Fish didn’t need money, and it didn’t care about fame either. After a while, the Musician realized that being nice wasn’t getting him anywhere, so he took the leftover piece of string, made a loop in it and threw it around the Fish’s head. The Fish had no choice – it was forced to follow the Musician. As it was dragged along, it sang in a small, quiet voice:
“Bad, Musician, bad, bad Musician…”
The Musician took no notice of the Fish and just quickened his pace, so as to get to the square in the centre of town as soon as possible. When he got there he heard music and saw a crowd of people. A Gypsy was showing off a dancing Bear, who truthfully looked a little bored. The Musician hid the Fish under his coat, pushed through the crowd and stood next to the Gypsy, shouting:
“Forget the Bear – I’ve got something a lot more interesting here!”
Then he released the Fish and started to play his violin. The Fish, of course, started to dance. It was such a strange spectacle that even the bored Bear, was enthralled. The Gypsy turned green with envy, knowing very well that his dancing Bear could not compare. The Fish danced the polka, the waltz and the mazurka until finally it sprang up on the tip of its tail and took a bow. Everyone enjoyed the performance so much that they not only threw pennies at it but also, silver and gold coins.
The Gypsy turned greener and greener. Then, he took the Bear to one side, whispered something in his ear. Suddenly the Bear roared loudly and threw himself at the Fish. However, the Fish jumped so high that the Bear couldn’t catch him.
“Play” shouted the Fish to the Musician, “I’ll whistle and you play your violin.”
And so the Fish started to whistle such a tune, that the Bear immediately calmed down and began to dance and the Fish danced with him. It was such an incredible spectacle, that the crowd was transfixed. The Musician once again gathered a lot of money. Then, he turned to the Gypsy and said:
“I’ll give you all that I’ve earned; in fact I’ll double it, if you sell me that Bear of yours.”
The Gypsy scratched his head, thought for a moment and agreed.
That same day, the Musician put on another show and earned so much money that not only was he able to pay the Gypsy but he was also able to buy himself some new clothes. A crowd of people followed him wherever he went and he became the most famous man in town.
Now, it often happens that success goes to people’s heads and that’s exactly what happened to the Musician. Even though his hungry wife and four children were waiting for him at home, the Musician no longer wanted to return to them. He had other plans. He had heard that in a nearby town lived a Prince who had a very beautiful but capricious daughter. She was nicknamed ‘The yawning Princess’ as she was never pleased with anything and all day she yawned out of boredom. Many charming rich young men, asked for her hand in marriage but she rejected them all. In fact, she said that she would only marry the man who could show her a spectacle that no one had ever seen before. The Musician thought that a Bear dancing with a Fish was something that no one had ever seen (although there had been a sighting of a Crab dancing with a Fish). So, the Musician decided to try for the hand of the Princess.
The next day, at dawn he made his way to the Prince’s castle. At first the elderly Doorman wouldn’t let him in, but when the Fish and the Bear started to dance, the Doorman ran as fast as his legs would carry him to the Princess to announce the arrival of some extraordinary dancers.
The Princess, who was lying on her couch and yawning as usual, was very happy to have something interesting to look at and she told the Doorman to let the visitors wait for her in the garden.
When the Musician saw the Princess he was speechless. Naturally, she was very beautiful but it was her hair that was that he found breath-taking. Out of boredom she had painted each strand a different colour and now she had hair in all the colours of the world.
The Musician didn’t look too bad himself – he was clean, shaved, perfumed and dressed in brand new clothes. The Princess liked the look of him.
“I’m very happy that you’ve come here to show me your extraordinary spectacle,” she said with a smile.
To be honest, she was being polite as on the way to the garden she had already started to feel a little bored. However, as soon as the Bear and the Fish started to dance she began to laugh and clap her hands, telling them to dance again and again. Finally, the two fell down, side by side, on the grass gasping with tiredness.
The Princess was so impressed with the Musician’s extraordinary spectacle that she agreed to become his wife. The wedding was to be in a week, and the Princess spent the whole week watching the Fish and the Bear dance until finally she got bored of them.
“I’m sick of them. Tell them to be killed for the wedding feast.” she said to the Musician. He agreed because now that he was sure that he’d become the Princess’ husband, he had no need for the Fish and the Bear.
The wedding ceremony took place in the castle chapel. Many guests were invited and the largest hall in the castle was prepared for the reception. A platter was found for the Fish but the Bear was so enormous that there had to be a special platter made for him by ten silversmiths who worked all night. The enormous Bear on a silver platter was the talk of the wedding reception. However, the guests were rather surprised that next to the Bear lay a platter with a violin with strings made out of a piece of string. This was the Princess’ idea – she was thought it was very funny.
“One can’t play a violin like that” commented one of the guests.
“Oh yes, you can!” shouted out the Musician and he grabbed the violin and his bow and started to play.
The moment that he started to play, the Bear and the Fish jumped up off their platters and began to dance. The guests were terrified, and started to run away. The first to get up and run were the Princess and the Musician.
But they didn’t get very far, as the Bear grabbed the Musician with one paw and the Princess with the other. Then, the Bear and the Fish sat down in the empty dining hall. And then with the same knives and forks that were to be used to eat them, they ate the Musician and the Princess and lived happily ever after and danced only when they felt like it…
THE END