Introduction

Most people want to become 'train-drivers', or 'bus-conductors' or even 'firemen' but all that Leopold had ever wanted to be was a plain and simple minstrel ... thank goodness he was 'musically' bent.

Throughout his childhood and most formative years, he had listened with great glee to the ballads and tunes of the local minstrels ... enthralled by each and every note, and by the 'stories' contained within them ... but none so fascinated him as did the oldest minstrel of them all - Old Sam.

One day, with his fists clenched in tight little balls and his heart pumping fit to bust, he knocked on Old Sam's door and waited tensely for him to answer. "What do you want?" grumbled Sam and Leopold's heart skipped a beat. "To become a minstrel like you" said Leopold, his voice barely carrying the short distance between his mouth and Sam's ears. "Hmm," wheezed Sam, "That sounds a daunting task to say the least!" Then taking him by the arm, lead Leopold into the dark confines of the small cottage Sam called home.

For the next few months Old Sam did his best to impart his knowledge of the ancient art into Leopold's little head ... albeit with a certain amount of failure at times! However Leopold was eager to learn and learn he did. There were moments when it all seemed too much for him to take in, but Leopold was no quitter and Sam was a patient soul, and so between them both they managed to get most things sorted out.

Then one morning 'tragedy' struck and Old Sam's most precious possession, his trusty old lute, met with an unfortunate accident. None are too sure what exactly took place, some say the cat knocked it off the top of the dressing-table, whilst others say that Old Sam himself sat upon it, but whatever it was that caused the damage it meant that the lute was in dire need of repair.

Normally such a task would have been undertaken by Old Sam himself, but a recent spell of abnormally cold weather had left him with a harsh bout of the 'sniffles' and coupled with the fact that his eyes were watering fit-to-flood there was no way he was able to. So it was that Leopold found himself entrusted with the task of getting the lute repaired.

Notes

Guide Leopold on his journey to get the lute repaired and remember that failure to do just that could result in the 'apprenticeship' being cancelled .. or even worse, if anything could be regarded as worse than that!!!

This game will recognise all of the usual commands such as EXAMINE, SEARCH, LOOK and even QUIT. However only resort to using the latter if you feel that the 'task' is more than even you and Leopold combined can handle.

Use the commands RAMSAVE and RAMLOAD to store and recall a 'saved' position. This will enable you to make a temporary record of your progress - to RAM (Memory) - but in order to make a more permanent record always use the standard SAVE and LOAD inputs.

Hints

If you cannot win, just CHEAT! Imagination is a very powerful ally! Steal it!