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Updated: June 16, 2025
The fire shone from the smelting furnaces with green, yellow and red tongues of flame under a blue-green smoke; half-naked, black-smeared fellows threw out large glowing masses of fire, so that the sparks flew around and about: one was reminded of Schiller's "Fridolin."
And I'm not altogether satisfied with this pine; I should have tackled a fir-tree." He wiped his brow and smiled in self-pity. "How are your children?" asked Maya pleasantly. "Thank you," said Fridolin, "thank you for your interest. But" he hesitated "but I don't supervise the way I used to. Still, I have reason to believe they are all doing well."
It was so long since any one had shown him any sympathy, and Lavretsky was obviously interested in him, he was plying him with sympathetic and attentive questions. This touched the old man; he ended by showing the visitor his music, played and even sang in a faded voice some extracts from his works, among others the whole of Schiller's ballad, Fridolin, set by him to music.
The lord to Fridolin then said: "The pathway toward the foundry tread, And of the workmen there inquire, If they have done their lord's desire." The other answered, "Be it so!" But o'er him came this thought, When he was all-prepared to go, "Will she command me aught?" So to the Countess straight he went: "I'm to the iron-foundry sent; Then say, can I do aught for thee?
Fridolin told her about the woodpecker's tongue: that it was long and thin, and round as a worm, and barbed and sticky. "He can stretch his tongue out ten times my length," cried the bark-beetle, flourishing his arm. "You think: 'now now he has reached the limit, he can't make it the tiniest bit longer. But no, he goes on stretching and stretching it.
Maya knew that human beings were none too fond of Fridolin and his people, though she herself liked him and liked his opinions and had found no reason to avoid him. In the morning before the sun arose and the woods were still asleep, she would hear his fine tapping and boring. It sounded like a delicate trickling, or as if the tree were breathing in its sleep.
'The Errand at the Furnace', wherein a spiteful tale-bearer meets the horrible fate he has prepared for the innocent and devout Fridolin, may be styled a ballad of pious edification. Here, as a critic observes, Schiller purposely essays a tone of childlike naivete which was foreign to his nature. 'The Battle with the Dragon' has for its theme the moral majesty of self-conquest.
Maya looked at Fridolin reflectively; she was awed into solemnity at the thought of the great power these little creatures possessed and of how important they could become. Fridolin sighed and said in a worried tone: "Ah, life would be beautiful if there were no woodpeckers." Maya nodded. "Yes, indeed, you're right. The woodpecker gobbles up every insect he sees."
Then he fell into a reverie, and his heart grew heavy within him. "You have set 'Fridolin' to charming music, Christopher Fedorovich," he said aloud after a time. But what is your opinion? This Fridolin, after he had been brought into the presence of the countess by her husband, didn't he then immediately become her lover eh?" "You think so," answered Lemm, "because, most likely, experience "
This touched the old man. He ended by showing his music to his guest, and he played, and even sang, in his worn-out voice, some passages from his own works; among others, an entire ballad of Schiller's that he had set to music that of Fridolin. Lavretsky was loud in its praise, made him repeat several parts, and, on going away, invited him to spend some days with him.
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