"You know that the Swan Lady is great at writing melodies. She can write a great melody on a stringed instrument in around 30 minutes," answered Banjo.
"Maybe she just had beginners luck?"
Banjo shook his head in frustration. Why did Hans have to underestimate the Swan Lady? Couldn't he see that she had real talent? "Maybe Hans is just being sexist?" Banjo thought to himself. "Sometimes I wonder why I'm friends with him."
"I'm going to take a chance," Hans replied to Banjo. "I'm staying just because you're my friend. I just hope I can get my hands on an actual drum."
Later, Hans stood up and motioned to Tram to approach him. "Why did you tell everyone that the invisible instruments weren't real?" he complained to her. "We were making great money." "I had to tell the truth!" explained Tram. "I rejoice in the truth." "How is it possible to rejoice in the truth when the truth does not care about how you feel?" wondered Hans. "Haven't you heard of a certain phrase? Haven't you heard that ignorance is bliss?" Tram paid little attention to Hans' reply. She turned and looked at Banjo and Elisa. Elisa's swan was still by her side even after all her adventures. Many people say that dogs are loyal, but this swan was far more loyal than any dog. Elisa lifted up the swan and allowed Banjo to pet it. Banjo had an expression like a love-struck puppy while whispering words inside Elisa's ear. He may have told Elisa stuff about how he found the swan to be adorable and intelligent, but he would have been lying if he did.
Elisa and Banjo happened to be under a gum tree, not far away from the campfire. "I've been thinking about continuing to play music," Banjo confessed to Elisa. "The band doesn't have to break up now. We already have a band name. Now we need a band logo to advertise our band." Elisa took out a knife to carve an image on the gum tree. It was a picture of a black swan with ballet shoes on its feet. "That'll work," said Banjo, greatly impressed by the drawing Elisa had carved onto the tree. Then Elisa and Banjo leaned closer towards each other as if the two of them suddenly noticed something about each other that they had never noticed before. Then they kissed each other on the lips as romantic lovers do.
Hans turned and saw this. He had a confused and disgusted expression on his face when he saw Banjo and Elisa kissing. "Hey, Mr. Hans, have you noticed something going on with Banjo?" asked Tram. "No, I have not," replied Hans. "But what have you noticed?""That Banjo's in love," explained Tram. "But with who?" asked Hans. "I certainly hope it's not me. I mean to say that I'd love people to love me, but not in a certain way." "He's not in love with you, Mr. Hans," explained Tram, who was surprised that Hans was not seeing what she was seeing. "He's in love with the Swan Lady." "I see," said Hans, in a way that suggested that he was serious. "Who else would he be in love with? Now it all makes sense." Suddenly he burst out laughing hysterically. "You're a comedian but I am a realist," mocked Hans. "It's not like Banjo's a lovesick puppy. How can you understand what Banjo is going through? I've known Banjo for longer than you have. Don't you think I'd know if he found a love interest?" Banjo walked over to the two of them with a smile on his face.
"Guess what guys," exclaimed Banjo. "I'm in love with somebody." "But with who?" asked a confused Hans. "With the Swan Lady of course!" said Banjo. "Who else?" Hans realized that Banjo was being serious and that he really had found romance with a woman. "But how is that possible?" wondered Hans out loud. "She can't even speak! Why would you be in love with her?" "I know right!" exclaimed Banjo, who was filled with joy. "This is insane!" "Um, Banjo, why would you think you would have a chance with her," said Hans, scratching the top of his head. "She's much taller than you. She's even taller than me." "I just feel it," replied Banjo, beaming with pride. Tram looked at Hans with an expression that seemed to say, "I told you so."
The next morning, the band members made their way to a town called Geelong, which was another Victorian town located beside the ocean. "I've heard about this place," informed Banjo, who smiled at Elisa. "The fields surrounding this place are full of vines. I might live here one day." "You couldn't be more right, Banjo," praised Hans, fist bumping Banjo. "It would be great to retire to a large estate in the middle of a vineyard." All the band members were very dirty, for all of them had mud and dirt on their faces. Elisa wanted her fellow band members to wash themselves, but she knew that they had poor standards of personal hygiene. They also hated the feel of cold water washing over them.
Tram knew that her band-mates were hungry, so she bought three bunuelos from a nearby vender. Bunuelos are fried flour-based treats. "What are these things?" asked Banjo, referring to the bits of food that Tram bought. Tram refused to answer his question. "They're my guilty pleasure," Tram replied to him. "Well, are you hungry?"Banjo took a few steps towards Tram and whispered something in her ear. Tram grinned when she heard what it was. Then her brown eyes turned towards Elisa. "Me and Banjo have been thinking about renaming the band THE SWAN LADY," she said. "Should we not name the band after you?" Hans frowned when he heard Tram say this; as if he thought what Tram said was the dumbest thing anyone could ever say. Elisa chucked, and then shook her head. She never wanted to seek glory for herself. She motioned to Tram in order to get her to put the bunuelo back into the tucker bag.
Elisa saw a horse trough ahead of them, so she took off her outer garment, for she was wearing two layers of clothing. She rubbed the garment with a bar of soap. The soap happened to be resting beside the horse trough. She dipped the garment into the horse trough and began to clean it. She waved at the members of her band as if to indicate that she wanted them to move closer to the horse trough. She then started to wash the heads, and hands, of the other members of the band with the clean garment. She thought it would have been better for her band-mates to wash themselves, but of course she knew that it was something they weren't good at doing.
Hans smiled at her and said, "I think you're a bit weird, but I like you because of that. Thank you!" Elisa responded by kissing Hans on the forehead. Hans blushed, but he straightened up when he realized that his band-mates were grinning at him. After she washed Tram, she arrived by the side of Banjo. "Are you going to wash my face, hands, and hair as well?" he asked her. She nodded and kept on rubbing his hair with soap, so Banjo responded by saying, "Please, you mustn't. There's no need to wash me, Swan Lady. You are not my servant."
But Elisa kept on washing Banjo with great care, so Banjo let her. There was a boy nearby, who saw all this happen. When he saw Elisa washing the face of Banjo the dwarf, he laughed and mocked her. "Look at this filthy maiden," laughed the boy. "She is washing the half-man. It's almost as if she is in love with him." Banjo was angry, not because the boy was mocking his height, but because the boy was mocking Elisa. Banjo yelled at the boy, saying, "Pick on someone your own size. Like me perhaps, but not this woman." "She should go back to her own country," mocked the boy. Banjo was ready to strike, but Elisa restrained him by grabbing his arm. Then something unexpected happened. Hans rose up and began to chase the boy. He grabbed the boy and lifted the boy up by grabbing his clothing. The boy was clearly terrified. Seeing the terrified look on the boy's face seemed to satisfy Hans in some twisted way.
"Please, my friend, don't hurt me!" cried the boy, tears flowing down his face. "Oh, man, please. I will give you anything you want." Hans looked at the boy with violent intent and thought about how to use the situation to his advantage, in order to put a little money into his pocket. He almost appeared to be smiling. Hans said to the boy, "You can trust that I am not your friend. What will you give me if I leave you alone? How much money will you give me?" The boy took out a few coins from his pocket. "Take one of my coins, but please don't take any more," begged the boy. "I need to feed my family." Hans appeared to be almost moved by the boy's words. Almost. Elisa ran over to Hans, smacked him on the back, and looked at him with a disappointed expression.
Her arms were crossed, as if to say, "You'll regret it if you hurt the boy." Hans felt a bit guilty when he looked at her. Not a lot, but just a bit. He gently put the boy down. He did not feel guilty because what he was doing was wrong. He felt guilty because he disappointed Elisa, and he cared about what she thought. He would have gladly robbed the boy had Elisa not seen him attempt to do it. "Don't cry!" he told the boy, feigning a friendly nature. "It's not like I was going to kill you. Do I look like a killer?" Hans opened up his arms to embrace the boy in a hug, but the boy didn't respond. Instead, he backed away, turned, and ran as fast as he could. Last of all, Elisa washed her hands and face. She heard her black swan squawking. It was clearly hungry. Now that her hands were clean, she grabbed one of the bunuelos and broke it into pieces. She gave all the pieces to her black swan.
Bunuelos were Karen's, or in this case, Karen the Swan's favorite food. Karen still loved bunuelos, even though she was now a swan. Elisa grabbed another bunuelo and broke it into four even pieces. She gave three pieces of the bunuelo to her band-mates. Tram reached out her hand and asked for money from her band-mates, saying, "This looks like a perfect place for basking. But we have no instruments. Even our banjo is gone." Tram placed her right hand on Banjo's shoulders and grinned at him.
She was humoring Banjo regarding his name. "If only we could buy some instruments," she continued. Since Elisa handled the moneybag, Elisa was the one who handed coins over to Tram. Tram left the group, but soon she returned, carrying a wheelbarrow filled with musical instruments. "Where did you get that wheelbarrow?" inquired Hans, who feared that Tram may have been overspending. "You didn't pay for it, did you? I can't have you wasting money.""No, I did not pay for this wheelbarrow," answered Tram truthfully. "I found it in a junkyard." Then she walked over to the wheelbarrow and handed instruments to each of her friends.
Hans received a drum kit, Tram received a new violin, Banjo received a banjo, and Elisa picked up a guitar. "What do we sing about?" asked Hans. Elisa borrowed a crayon from a pavement artist and wrote musical notes on the ground. Banjo read the notes and played them on his banjo. "But we need lyrics!" exclaimed Banjo. "Or we could sing WALTZING MATILDA over and over again," said Tram. "No!" rebuked Hans. "I am sick of that song. I'll try to write the lyrics to a song." Hans sneakily wrote lyrics on a nearby wall with a crayon."Someone sure is going to be upset that you've vandalized this property," smiled Tram to Hans. Tram grabbed Hans' crayon and began writing lyrics on the wall. Elisa looked at the lyrics with contempt.