Wars and Fairy-TalesThough Italian is the language of music, the people of Germany are quite as musical as the Italians. But their music is very different from the music of the Italians. Some of their music is warlike, big and loud, and yet some of it is gentle and sweet, and the most famous cradle songs and Christmas carols have been written by Germans. “Silent Night, Holy Night” is one. Musical plays are called operas. Some of the greatest operas in the World have been composed by Germans.Cradle songs and Christmas carols don't seem to go well with fighting. But the Germans, besides being very musical, have also been very warlike. You have all heard of the two terrible World Wars, World War I and World War II. Most of the countries of the World took part in these two wars. In each war Germany fought almost all the other countries in the World and, even with almost all the rest of the World against her, she nearly won both times.After World War II the countries that had beaten Germany divided Germany up to keep her from starting any more wars. Russia took Eastern Germany. The United States, Great Britain, and France ruled Western Germany. So there came to be two Germanies, West Germany and East Germany.Which do you like better, fairy-tales or true stories? Some of the World's best fairy-tales have been made in Germany. Stories, poems, songs, and operas have been written about fairy people and real people who once lived on the hills and in the caves by the side of a river in Germany called the Rhine. The Rhine starts from a glacier in the Swiss Alps and runs north along the west side of Germany and through Holland.On both sides of the Rhine are steep hills and rocks and on top of these hills are castles built many years ago. The men who built these castles were called robber barons, and they built their castles on these hills so that they could rob and would be safe from their enemies. The poor people, who lived down in the valleys, had to give part of the things they raised to the barons; if they did not do so, the barons would swoop down on them with their men and take what they wanted and destroy the people's homes. The people knew it was useless to attack the barons because of their strong castles.