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Before you read the story we recommend you do vocabulary activity (1) and vocabulary activity (2), which practise words in the text. If you wish, you can listen to the first part of the story. When you have finished reading the story, do an activity that practises your comprehension. You can also practise conditional sentences, with an activity that matches halves of sentences about the story. Finally, do some writing yourself.
The next morning I woke up early, packed my suitcases and went to the airport. I was extremely happy about the incredible bargain I had found, but at the same time I was a little worried. Let me explain why. Even though Europe is now a single market, there are some things which it is still not possible to take from one country to another. Anything which we call ‘artistic or cultural heritage’ - works of art, or antiques, for example – are restricted by a lot of legal bureaucracy. This is why I was worried when I arrived at the airport. I checked in my suitcases, and took the violin as hand luggage. I didn’t want to put the valuable violin through the X-ray machine at the security check. I had to open the case and show the instrument to the customs officers.
Three customs officers took the violin and looked at it very carefully. They were all talking very seriously. They called a more important officer. The important officer looked at the violin very carefully. Then he looked at my passport. Then he looked carefully at me. He talked with the other customs officers some more. Finally he put the violin back in its case and told me to get on the plane. Again, I couldn’t believe my luck. I breathed a sigh of relief and thought I was the luckiest person in the world. But the problem hadn’t finished yet! Now I had to go through British customs.
When I got off the plane my heart was already beating very quickly. It sounded like a drum – I thought that everybody could hear it. I waited for my suitcases at the baggage reclaim point and thought that police or customs officers were going to arrest me at any second. Because it was a European flight, I could decide if I wanted to declare anything I was bringing into the country. There were two exits. If I take the green exit, I thought to myself, I can leave the airport without saying anything – even though it is illegal! If I take the red exit, it will be necessary to show the violin, and I could be arrested!
I took the green exit. I walked out of the airport without saying anything. I went to get a taxi. When I was getting into the taxi, I felt a hand on my shoulder.
"Excuse me, Sir" a voice said. It’s over! I thought, I’m going to be arrested and put in prison!
"I think you’ve forgotten your suitcase." I turned round and saw that one of my suitcases was still on the ground.
"Thank you!" I said.
I was certainly the luckiest person in the world.
I don’t really think that I did anything illegal. I’m not sure that I was even dishonest. The old man got £250. He doesn’t need a lot of money. The young violin player has another violin he can play. I made a clever business deal. That’s all. Sometimes you have to do everything you can to get ahead in this world.
When I finally arrived home, I felt relieved. I took my key out of my pocket to open the door…and found that the door was already open.
"Oh no!" I said to myself. "Burglars!"
I walked into my flat slowly and carefully. I was worried that there was somebody still in the flat. I was right. There was somebody still in the flat. There were two people in the flat. The young violinist Giuseppe and his old father were sitting in my living room.
"Hello again, Mr. Hobbes-Smith!" they said. "We were waiting for you."
I was horrified. It was incredible. How was it possible that they were already here? What did they want? How did they know where I lived?
"We must say thank you again Mr. Hobbes-Smith," said the old man, "but not for the £250! Did you really think I was so stupid?"
I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t speak.
"We already knew that you have a good business dealing in antique musical instruments. We knew that you were not always completely honest in your business dealings! We wanted to bring the Giordano violin into Britain. Here we can sell it to a rich collector. But we knew it was dangerous to take it through customs. Thank you again, Mr. Hobbes-Smith, for the favour you did for us. Don’t worry! We won’t tell anybody about what you did! Now we know how well you work, we can ask you to do more favours for us in the future."
I was starting to think that perhaps I wasn’t as lucky as I thought.
Here is what a learner in Bulgaria thought:
"Well, I think the violinist and his father were very pleased that they found a person to do their job. They were too afraid to take the violin over the border and took a person that was so happy to have the 13th Giordano violin. I think it wasn't so good to do such a 'deal' but it was as bad as Mr Hobbes-Smith did. He told the Italian people a lie."
Jade, from Hong Kong, agrees:
"I think all of the cast in the story are 'bad guys'...they are evil-minded."
But John Chan (also from Hong Kong) thinks that they are not so much bad as simply stupid! "What," he says, " if Geoffrey got caught by the custom officer, they lost their violin!". Good point, John!
Selin Mani from India has a suggestion for why the characters in this story behave so badly:
"This is a story of people doing business with their fox mentality...normally all businessmen think this way - everybody wants money."
Chandni Satish from Russia says:
"I think that both the parties were cunning enough to get their jobs done. But then it is business, you see!"
Viera Jurkovicova from the Slovak Republic says:
"I was a bit sorry for the Italians. They were deceived. That's why I liked to find them in London. They had to think, 'Mr. Hobbes-Smith, you thought how clever you are. But you aren't'."
Anna-maria Alexandrou from Cyprus feels differently. She says:
I think all the personalities in the stories were frauds.I could not believe how deceived Smith got. None of them was a nice guy, although I thought the Italians were a tincy wincy stupid.
This is what Claudio Aliaga from Chile thinks:
"I think Mr. Hobbes-Smith did what any of us would have done. He saw a chance and took it, that's it! But the italians were more clever..."
Nani Heriyani from Indonesia says:
"It doesn't matter if people take advantage...to be honest, I would do the same. I would buy something at a low price and sell it at a higher one."
Elisabetta Martini from Italy tells us:
"I'd like to focus on the deep meaning of the story. I think the texture is built on a stereotype, that is the great deal of cunning that characterizes Italian people, particularly the ones from the South of Italy."
Luisa Io from Italy disagrees (we think!). She says she thinks the story shows that:
"a guy from Naples can't be robbed by an english one."
However, Ghada from the Lebanon says:
"In my opinion, it has nothing to do with stereotype. Whatever the nationality of the people is, the important lesson of the story is to be honest."
Send us your thoughts.
Tatiana Kuznetsova writes “I can say nothing about characters, in my opinion they are described very deftly in this story. But very often people that have done something dishonest say that it's only business. Maybe honest business is an illusion. And the Italians are not stupid. If Geoffrey had got caught by the custom officers they would have lost their violin but saved their freedom.”
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