The Fiddle Player
The lad must have been less than ten years old and initially it was his dad who wanted to make something. When they realised that I was happy to work with youngsters just so long as their parent stayed and took full responsibility for their safety, they swapped places.
He was very keen, diligent and had extremely good hand/eye coordination. He ended making a beautiful hook which we duly waxed and polished.
When it came to the barter, he thought long and hard:
“What I could do… is play you a tune on my fiddle.”
“That’d be great.”
So he screeched at me for about ten minutes in front of my pitch, gathering quite an audience. And to his absolute delight, he even made four quid, tossed into his violin case by passers-by!
He’d be an adult now, so I like to think he’s out there somewhere, still busking, having got his first taste of it on the craft field at Glastonbury.
Kate The Wordsmith 