The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1874-08-14


time, he sent to beg the Sheriff to
bear him company on this important
occasion,
The Sheriff placed himself at the
Judges disposal, but he commanded
the attendance of the jailer as some
sort of protection but the jailer, fol
his part, begged his reverence the chap
lain to be one of the party, as the hill
was not in good spiritual repute. So
when the time came, the four started
together, and the hangman and the
farmers son went before them to the
foot of the gallows.
When the rope was just being pre-
pared, the farmers son called to the
Judge, and said
"If your honor will walk twenty
PAGES down the hill, where you will see
bit of paper, you will learn where to
find the fiddler"
"That is. no doubt, copy of the
poor mans last confession" thought
the Judge, as he ran hastily to pick il
up.
But the farmers son had dropped il
as he came along, by his mothers di-
u
could not pick it up without putting his
foot on the edge of the fairy ring. No
sooner had he done so than he per-
ceived an innumerable company of little
people dressed in green cloaks and
hoods, who were dancing round in a
circle as wide as the ring.
They were all about two feet high,
and had aged faces, brown and withered,
like the knots on gnarled trees in hedge
bottoms, and they squinted horribly /;
but, in spite of their seeming age, they
flew. round and round like children.
a" Mr.. Sheriff Mr.. Sheriff." cried the
Judge, leone and see the dancing.
And hear the music, too, which is SO
lively that it makes the soles of my feet
tickle"
"There's no music, my Lord Judge, "
said the Sheriff, running down the hill
" 1t is the wind whistling over the grass
that your lordship hears"
But when the Sheriff put his foot by
the Judges foot, he saw and heard the
same, and he cried out:
"Quick, jailer, and come down. l
should like you to be witness III this
matter. And you may take my arm,
jailer, for the music makes me feel I'M
steady"
"There's no music, SIR" said the
jailer, g but your worship doubtless
hears the creaking of the gallows."
" But when the jailer's feet touched
the fairy ring, he saw like the rest, and
cried TO the chaplain to come and stop
the unhallowed measure
" 1t is n delusion of the Evil One,"
said the parson "there is not a sound
in the air but the distant croaking of
some frogs"
But as he, too, touched the ring, he
perceived his mistake.
At this moment the moon shone out,
and in the middle of the ring they per-
ceived Limping Tim, the fiddler, play
ing TIL great drops stood out OF his
forehead, and dancing as madly as he
played"
"Ah, you rascal !" cried the Judge.
" Is this where you've been all this
time, and a better man than you as
good as hanged for you? But You shall
come home now"
Saying which, he ran III, and seized
the fiddler by the arm but Limping
Tim resisted so stoutly that the Sheriff
had to go to the Judges assistance and
even then the fairies so pinched and
them that the Sheriff was
obliged to call upon the jailer to put
his arms about his waist, who persuad-
ed the chaplain to. add his strength
to the string.
But as ill-luck would have it, just as
they were getting off one of the fairies
picked up Limping Tins fiddle, which
had fallen in the scuff1e, and began to
play. And as he began to play every
one began to dance-the fiddler, and
the Judge, and the Sheriff, and the
jailer, and even the chaplain.
"Hangman Hangman I" screamed
the Judge, as he lifted first one leg and
then the other to the tune, "come down
and catch hold of his reverence the
chaplain. The prisoner is pardoned,
and he can lay hold too"
The hangman knew the Judges voice,
and ran toward it; but as they were
now quite within the ring, he could see
nothing, either of him or his compan-
ions.
The farmers son followed, and war
ming the hangman not to touch the
ring, he directed him to stretch his
hands forward in hopes of catching
hold of some one. In few minutes
the wind blew the chaplain's cassock
against the hangman's fingers, and he
caught the parson round the waist.
The farmers son then seized him in
like fashion, and each holding firmly
By the other, the fiddler, the Judge, the
Sheriff, the jailor, the parson, the hang
man, and the farmers son all got safely
out of the charmed circle"
ooh, you scoundrel" cried the Judge
to the fiddler =" 1 have a very good
mind to hang You up on the gallows
without further ado"
But the fiddler only looked like one
possessed, and upbraided the farmers
son for not having the patience to wait
three minutes for him.
"Three minutes ~ cried he; "why,
you've been here three months and a
day"
This the fiddler would not believe,
and as he seemed in every way beside
himself, they led him home, still up
braiding his companion, and crying
continually for his fiddle.
His neighbors watched him closely,
but one day he escaped from their care
and wandered away over the hills to