In a beautiful forest on a mountain, there lived a girl with her four brothers, her father and mother, in a little house. The girl loved a handsome rich hunter, who often walked the woods but never tried to strike a conversation with the beautiful girl. So, Mara wept bitterly because the good-looking man would not talk to her. She often addressed him but he did not answer, and went his way. She would sing:"Beloved man from a far-away countryIf you like, take me in your armsAnd I'll kiss you passionately!" She would sing and sing, but he never listened. Because she knew no other way, she resorted to the devil to help her. The devil came and, holding a mirror in his hand, asked her what she wanted. Mara told him her sorrow. "If there's nothing else to do, then I'll help," said the devil. "I'll give you this. Show it to your lover when you call out to him!" The hunter came again to the forest and Mara, mirror in her hand, walked up to him. When the hunter saw himself in the mirror he gave a horrified shout: "Oh, this is the devil, the devil did this, I see myself!" and he ran and never came back. Again, Mara cried day and night because the handsome man would not return. As she knew no other succor to her torment, she conjured the devil one more time to assist her. The devil showed up in a jiffy and asked her what she wanted. Mara recounted how the hunter had run away when he had seen himself in the mirror. The devil laughed and said: "Let him run, I'll catch him because he belongs to me together with you; because you looked in the mirror, and who does so is mine. I'll help you now but you have to give me your four brothers, otherwise it won't do you any good." "Give me your father!" And Mara replied: "All right, I'll give you my father, but you help me!" Out of the father the devil made a box; that was the violin. Then he said: "Give me your mother, too!" Mara said she would, if he helped her. The devil smiled, and turned the mother into a stick and her hair into horse strings – the bow. Then the devil played and Mara rejoiced. The devil played again and she wept. Now it was the devil's turn to laugh: "When your lover comes, play the violin and this will draw him to you!" Then Mara started to play and the hunter heard the music and came to her. After nine days, the devil returned and said: "Obey me, for I am your master!" They did not want to and the devil took them with him. The violin remained in the forest, on the ground, and a Roma boy arrived and saw it. He started to play, and any village or city laughed or cried when he played, exactly as he willed it. Basme, snoave, povesti rrome (Roma Fairy Tales and Stories), Publishing House of the Aven Amentza Roma Center for Public Policies, Bucharest, 2002
by Heinrich von Wlislock
