The Strange Musician II (spoiler alert)

“I will obey you as a scholar obeys his master”

Each of the critters responds to the Strange Musician in this way, to which he replies “follow me.” Then he leads each down the path into, well, (spoiler alert) something unpleasant.

One can wander beyond the frame of the trickster shapes into a revolutionary theme. If a student only does exactly as the master, then the individuality is lost. The hidden message of the Strange Musician might be this: don’t lose yourself in imitation.

The animals being at least somewhat crude and also from the natural realm, desire to learn from the civilis(z)ed being the ways of art and specifically music; however, we could truncate the path to an easier end: if you follow a scholarly master, you will fall into a trap.

Then, the trap is inauthenticity, which each animal eventually escapes from.