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Show 28 the mayor refused to pay him his salary, he left town and went to potzen to earn his living. Heinrich Steneken could play a pipe fairly well, but when he became a councilman he felt it was beneath his dignity, So this was the first real music we'd heard played in ages, and the children almost went wild with delight. They danced and danced until their faces were red and their heads were sweaty. They dropped on the ground panting, and when they had rested a short time, they jumped up and began to dance again. By this time the elders were in the square too. They stayed behind the children, but they danced along, taking more dignified steps until one very old man, Gottfried the Wheelwright, leaped high in the air and then whirled in furious circles, forgetting his age and his creaky joints. After that everybody began to jig and kick up their heels, letting themselves be caught up in the joy of music and movement. It continued until the moon came out and the older folks were too exhausted to go on. Then Gast began to play his strange, haunting tunes, the kind I had heard underneath the bridge. Everyone quieted down and just listened. I looked around at the crowd of faces and saw how each person was enthralled with the music and with the strange, alien look of Gast - everyone, even Mayor Gruelhot and yes, even Master Hermann. Gast was playing with his eyes half-closed, and with his hood thrown back to reveal the soot-black hair tied with a thong at the back of his neck, streaming down in a thick rope between his shoulders. In the moonlight, his long, thin fingers looked like sleek animals which |