And away he was taken; but as he stood at the foot of the ladder he said, "My Lord Judge, may it please your worship to grant me but one boon? " "Anything but thy life," replied the other. "No," said he, "I do not ask my life; only let me play one tune upon my fiddle for the last time." The Jew cried out, "Oh, no! no! no! for Heaven's sake don't listen to him! don't listen to him!" But the judge said, "It is only for this once, poor man! he will soon have done." The fact was, he could not say no, because the dwarf's third gift enabled him to make every one grant whatever he asked, whether they liked it or not.
Then the Jew said, "Bind me fast, bind me fast, for pity's sake!" But the countryman seized his fiddle, and struck up a merry tune; and at the first note, judge, clerks, and gaoler, were set a-going; all began capering, and no one could hold the Jew. At the second note the hangman let his prisoner go, and danced also; and by the time he had played the first bar of the tune all were dancing together—judge, court, Jew, and all the people who had followed to look on. At first the thing was merry and joyous enough; but when it had gone on awhile, and there seemed to be no end of either playing or dancing, all began to cry out, and beg him to leave off: but he stopped not a whit the more for their begging, till the judge not only gave him his life, but paid him back the hundred crowns.
Then he called to the Jew, and said, "Tell us now, you rogue, where you got that gold, or I shall play on for your amusement only." "I stole it," said the Jew, before all the people; "I acknowledge that I stole it, and that you earned it fairly." Then the countryman stopped his fiddle, and left the Jew to take his place at the gallows.
