"You whistle very well," I said. "I heard you earlier on in Seilergraben. It gave me very much pleasure. I used to be a musician."
"Oh, were you!" he said in a friendly manner. "It's a great profession.. Have you given it up?"
"Yes, for the time being. I have even sold my violin."
"Have you? What a pity! Are you in difficulties - that is to say, are you hungry? There is still some food at my house. I also have a little money in my purse."
"Oh, no," I said quickly, "I did not mean that. I am in quite good circumstances. I have more than I need. But thank you very much; it was kind of you to make the offer. One does not often meet such kind people."
"Don't you think so? Well, maybe! People are often very strange. You are a strange person, too."
"Am I? Why?"
"Well, because you have enough money and yet you sell your violin. Don't you like music any more?"
"Oh, yes, but sometimes a man no longer finds pleasure in something he previously loved. Sometimes a man sells his violin or throws it against the wall, or a painter burns all his pictures. Have you never heard of such a thing?"
"Oh, yes. That comes from despair. It does happen. I even knew two people who committed suicide. Such people are stupid and can be dangerous. One just cannot help some people. But what do you do now that you no longer have your violin?"
"Oh, this, that and the other. I do not really do much. I am no longer young and I am also often ill. But why do you keep on talking about the violin? It is not really important."
"The violin? It made me think of King David."
"King David? What has he to do with it?"
"He was also a musician. When he was quite young he used to play for King Saul and sometimes dispelled his bad moods with music. Later he became a king himself, a great king full of cares, having all sorts of moods and vexations.. He wore a crown and conducted wars and all that kind of thing, and also did many really wicked things and became very famous. But when I think of his life, the most beautiful part of it all is about the young David with his harp playing music to poor Saul, and it seems a pity to me that he later became a king. He was a much happier and better person when he was a musician."
"Of course he was!" I cried rather passionately. "Of course, he was younger then and more handsome and happier. But one does not always remain young; your David would in time have grown older and uglier and would have been full of cares even if he had remained a musician. So he became the great David, performed his deeds and composed his psalms.. Life is not just a game!"
Leo then rose and bowed. "It is growing dark," he said, "and it will rain soon. I do not know a great deal more about the deeds that David performed, and whether they were great. To be quite frank, I do not know very much more about his psalms either, but I should not like to say anything against them. But no account of David can prove to me that life is not just a game. That is just what life is when it is beautiful and happy -a game! Naturally, one can also do all kinds of other things with it, make a duty of it, or a battleground, or a prison, but that does not make it any prettier. Good-bye, pleased to have met you!"
H.Hesse, The Journey to the East
