olfie's Papa was a violinist!

You know how when your papa does things, you like to do them too?

Well, Little Wolferl liked to play the violin, too. He was too little to play the violin, (or so his papa thought) but they got him a little violin, just like Papa's, only smaller.


One day, Papa came home with two friends. They set up music stands and pulled up chairs so they could play some new "trios" that one had just written.

Wolferl came into the drawing room with his little violin and said,

"Papa, can I play?"

And his papa looked down at him and said,


"Wolferl, you can't play the violin."


But Wolferl begged,

"Please, papa. Please, papa."

His papa started to get mad at him - you know how papas do sometimes. Papa was getting more angry when he said,

"Wolferl, I told you not to bother us. Now, if you keep talking, I'm going to send you away."

And the little boy started crying.

The second violinist started feeling sorry for him and said to Wolferl's Papa,

"Let the little one sit next to me. You won't be able to hear him play."

Papa turned to Wolferl and said,

"All right, you can sit there and play, but make sure no one can hear you!"

Little Wolferl sat down with his tiny violin and began to play ever so quietly.


Pretty soon the second violinist stopped playing. He looked at that little five year old boy who was now playing the second violin part all by himself!!!

Well, his father was so amazed he had tears in his eyes. When they were done, he came up to his son and said,

"Wolferl, how is it that you can play the second violin part when you haven't had violin lessons?"

Wolferl looked at his father and said,

"But Papa, surely one doesn't need to learn to play the violin to play second fiddle."



Q: Do you know what it means to play second fiddle?



Copyright©1996 Strings in the Mountains