The group walked on. Hans knew that Elisa was still upset, so he walked up to her. "What do you see in the swan?" he asked her. Elisa responded by pulling out several fleas that were on the swans feathers, and she cleaned the swan's feathers by licking them. She didn't wash the swan with water because she was running low on water. Hans squinted because he thought Elisa was being disgusting.
Tram wanted to change the subject so she asked him, "I heard that you also had a pet. What happened to it?" Hans answered the question with another question. "Do you really want to know?" he asked her. Tram nodded. "Once I did something many people would consider despicable, and I was caught," he told her plainly. He paused appeared to be holding back tears. "Yes, and?" she asked.
"I had a pet horse called Sitron," he said sadly. "I did something bad in the kingdom of Arendelle." "Which jail were you sent to?" Tram asked him. "Were you sent to the old Melbourne gaol?" "I wasn't in Australia at that time," answered Hans. "I was a citizen of the Southern Isles at that time. I was caught by the authorities and sent to prison. My jailers were some of the cruelest people who ever walked the earth. They wouldn't even let me take my horse with me to jail. I still don't know what happened to my horse." "Well, it is a bit mean to take your horse away," admitted Tram. "Indeed," said Hans.
"I'd like to know more about your back-story Mr. Hans," demanded Tram, who was very interested in Hans' life. "Why did you come to Australia?
"I didn't come to Australia by choice. I fell off my ship, which is called THE THROWAWAY. The waves washed me onto this land. It seems like getting stuck on strange lands are what I'm good at. But you'd have to wait a long time before you can hear my story. I'm not ready to tell you about my back-story."
"Were you a pirate?"
But Hans didn't reply. Elisa walked over to Hans and leaned close to him as if she wanted to hear his back-story. Tram thought up a plan to get Hans to talk, so she said to him, "You can tell your back-story to the Swan Lady. Your secrets are safe with her because she does not speak." Hans leaned close to Elisa and whispered to her some details regarding his back-story. There was a look of revulsion on Elisa's face as Hans told her details about his past. Some of the things he told her included details about his crap childhood.
The group walked on and on until they finally arrived within sight of Bremen. The town was located by the sea, and the group could see many people gathering by the beach as if they were celebrating some sort of festival. There were people from many different cultures and backgrounds mingling together to listen to the music playing at the festival, as well as merchants who sold musical instruments. There were brass instruments, woodwind instruments, string instruments, percussion instruments, and every other type of instrument you could think of. Some of the instruments were fashioned from human skulls and bones. Some were fashioned from organs. Some may have been fashioned from human organs. Many of the people there who were at the festival were also fishermen, so there was a great deal of fish sold at the festival. The group mingled amongst the crowd.
"There must be people from all four corners of the world here!" exclaimed Tram, who had suddenly remembered that she needed a violin. "I can't play music without my violin." "I'll try to get one for you," said Hans, gesturing towards some of the stalls that sold violins. "Don't steal anything!" demanded Tram. Hans laughed in reply. He was hardly able to comprehend why someone who feels no fear would worry so much, so he said to her, "Don't worry. For someone who knows no fear, you sure worry a lot." Banjo turned to the members of the group, and asked them, "How much money does everyone have?" Everyone showed Banjo their money, except the Swan Lady, for she was penniless when she came to Australia. "Our money is surely not enough," Hans said despairingly. "We can barely afford anything to eat. We don't have the means to buy good instruments, but if we steal-" "No stealing," interrupted Tram loudly. Those that heard her shout turned and looked at the group. Hans turned to the crowd with a smile on his face. He laughed and lied, saying, "This kid was using metaphors and figures of speech. None of us are really thieves." "You idiot," Banjo whispered to Tram. "You'd better keep your mouth shut if you know what's best for you." The members of the crowd slowly turned away from the group.
Elisa grabbed Banjo's banjo and began strumming it. Then she picked up a broken stick from the ground, which had been dropped by a passerby. She sharpened the stick with a knife and drew on the ground with that stick. At first, Elisa's companions were puzzled by what she was doing because she appeared to be drawing parallel lines on the sand. She was drawing musical notation on the sand. Presumably, she had come up with a great idea for a song, or a musical suite. "How can she write musical notation when she can't even speak?" Hans wondered to himself. "Intelligence comes in many forms," replied Banjo.
A large crowd began to gather around the group, curious to what was going on. Elisa took Banjo's banjo and played a melody, hoping to earn a little money by playing a good tune. "Play something else for us!" many people in the crowd shouted. Elisa continued playing Banjo's banjo. "It's very good, but it needs vocals" said Tram to everyone. She joined in by singing some vocals, and she herself improvised the lyrics, for Elisa did not write the lyrics. That was because Elisa had taken a vow of silence. She would not speak or write words anytime soon.
Elisa only wrote the melody. Some members of the crowd began to sing along. "It's very good, but it needs a drumbeat," shouted Hans. There was a boy in the crowd, who was playing with a drum. He must been a member of a music band. "This is my favorite drum," said the boy, as he handed the drum over to Hans. "You can borrow it. Please give it back when you're finished with it." Hans played the drum and memorized the lyrics that Tram sang, so he sang those lyrics. "The music makes you want to dance but still it's missing something," shouted Banjo as loudly as he could. "It needs a violin!" A woman within the crowd gave Banjo a violin. "Give it back when you're finished with it!" she shouted. Banjo took the violin, gave it to Tram, before singing along with the band. Banjo did not have an instrument with me, so he decided to sing the lead vocals. Now the band sounded complete. When they stopped singing, the crowd cheered wildly, for they were very impressed by how good the band sounded. Some members of the crowd threw silver coins at them. Hans knelt on the ground, picked them up, and counted them. Then he placed the coins inside a money bag.
Someone grabbed the money bag out of his hand. Hans turned around and saw that it was Banjo. "I'll be taking that!" said Banjo, taking the moneybag out of Hans' hand. "What do you think you're doing?" asked Hans in confusion. "I don't trust you with the moneybag, Hans," answered Banjo. "I know you like pilfering coins. The money will be divided evenly amongst all the members of the band, but I'm not even sure if the money should be divided evenly amongst us."
"Fair enough!" said Hans angrily. The band was soon forced to give up the violin and the drum. Hans gave the drum back to the boy, and Tram reluctantly gave the violin back to the woman. An elderly man walked up to the group. "Could I have a moment with you all?" he asked them. "Who's talking?" asked Hans. "I am a steward," he said. "I work for the mayor of Bremen. I was wondering whether you could perform a show for the mayor." "How much money will we be paid?" asked Hans. "I'm guessing one silver coin per song," answered the steward. "One silver coin each, to be specific. I'll have to talk to the mayor first." Hans laughed when he heard what his wages would be. "Quiet, Hans!" yelled Banjo, urging Hans to keep quiet. "You may not find these wages satisfying but I certainly do." He turned to the rest of the ground. "What do you think of these wages?" he asked them.
"As long as these wages are enough to put food into my belly, then fine by me!" replied Tram. Elisa responded by nodding since she did not want to speak. "Fine, but I hope to receive a pay rise soon," said a furious Hans. The steward led the group into a mansion that was not far away from the beach. He opened the gate of the mansion and everyone entered it.
The group entered a corridor and saw that were many bronze statues of great musicians along the corridors of the mansion. Musicians like Mozart, Bach, and Vivaldi. There were also paintings of musicians like Orpheus, Salieri, and Corelli in the mansion. The steward led the group right outside the mayor's office.
The steward was just about to knock on the mayor's door when suddenly Banjo remembered that he had forgotten something. "My banjo!" cried Banjo, waving his arms around in panic. "It is the only instrument we have." Banjo had forgotten his banjo. He must have left it at the beach. "I'm sorry but the mayor can't stand A Cappella music," explained the steward. "He gets really angry when he listens to A cappella, and you don't want to know what the mayor looks like when he's angry. You'll need instrumental accompaniment."
"I will go back to the beach to search for it," cried Tram. She got onto her feet and ran like the wind. "Don't take too long!" shouted the steward. Tram returned with some rather sad news. "What did you say?" gasped Banjo, as soon as he heard the sad news. "Banjo, your Banjo's gone!" explained Tram. "But without my banjo I'm nothing," screeched Banjo sadly. "The whole band is nothing!"
Tram had a cunning plan. "Do not panic, for I have a cunning plan," she told Banjo. She whispered the plan into the ears of the members of her band. "This idea is completely bonkers, yet it just might work!" said Banjo, scratching his chin.
Banjo and Tram stood straight outside the door of the office of the mayor of Bremen. "Let us practice our music, Tram," shouted Banjo to Tram. He shouted loudly so that the mayor could hear him. At that time the mayor was writing music at his desk when he overheard Banjo and Tram talking.
He ripped his written music up because he was not impressed with what he wrote, before rising from his desk. He crept close to the door of his office so he could hear what was going on. He spied on them through the keyhole. Tram pretended to play the violin by moving her hands around as if she were playing the violin. She also sang a little. "Wow Tram, you're so amazing at playing that violin of yours," lied Banjo. "Too bad the mayor probably won't be able to hear any of your gorgeous music. Our instruments are invisible, and only people who are not stupid can see and hear them. Everyone says the mayor is stupid."
"Why don't you play your banjo, Banjo?" shouted Tram. Banjo moved his arms and fingers around to make it look as if he was playing the banjo. "That was exquisite, Banjo," screeched Tram, as loudly as she could. "You really know how to play the banjo, Banjo!"