The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Once upon a time...
On the banks of a great river in the north of Germany lay a town
called Hamelin. The citizens of Hamelin were honest folk who lived
contentedly in their grey stone houses. The years went by, and the town
grew very rich. Then one day, an extraordinary thing happened to disturb
the peace. Hamelin had always had rats, and a lot too. But they had
never been a danger, for the cats had always solved the rat problem in
the usual way-by killing them. All at once, however, the rats began to
multiply.
In the end, a black sea of rats swarmed over the whole town. First,
they attacked the barns and storehouses, then, for lack of anything
better, they gnawed the wood, cloth or anything at all. The one thing
they didn't eat was metal. The terrified citizens flocked to plead with
the town councillors to free them from the plague of rats. But the
council had, for a long time, been sitting in the Mayor's room, trying
to think of a plan. "What we need is an army of cats!" But all the cats
were dead. "We'll put down poisoned food then...." But most of the food
was already gone and even poison did not stop the rats.
"It just can't be done without help!" said the Mayor sadly. Just
then, while the citizens milled around outside, there was a loud knock
at the door. "Who can that be?" the city fathers wondered uneasily,
mindful of the angry crowds. They gingerly opened the door. And to their
surprise, there stood a tall thin man dressed in brightly coloured
clothes, with a long feather in his hat, and waving a gold pipe at them.
"I've freed other towns of beetles and bats," the stranger said, "and
for a thousand florins, I'll rid you of your rats!" "A thousand
florins!" exclaimed the Mayor. "We'll give you fifty- thousand if you
succeed!" At once the stranger hurried away, saying:
"It's late now, but at dawn tomorrow, there won't be a rat left in
Hamelin!"
The sun was still below the horizon, when the sound of a pipe wafted
through the streets of Hamelin. The Pied Piper slowly made his way
through the houses and behind him flocked the rats. Out they scampered
from doors, windows and gutters, rats of every size, all after the
piper. And as he played, the stranger marched down to the river and
straight into the water, up to his middle. Behind him swarmed the rats
and everyone drowned and was swept away by the current.
By the time the sun was high in the sky, there was not a single rat
in the town. There was even greater delight at the town hall, until the
Piper tried to claim his payment.
"Fifty- thousand florins?" exclaimed the councillors,
"Never..." "A thousand florins at least!" cried the Pied Piper
angrily. But the Mayor broke in. "The rats are all dead now and they can
never come back. So be grateful for fifty florins, or you'll not get
even that...." His eyes flashing with rage, the Pied Piper pointed a
threatening finger at the Mayor. "You'll bitterly regret ever breaking
your promise," he said, and vanished.
A shiver of fear ran through the Councillors, but the Mayor shrugged
and said excitedly: "We've saved fifty thousand florins!" That night,
freed from the nightmare of the rats, the citizens of Hamelin slept more
soundly than ever. And when the strange sound of piping wafted through
the streets at dawn, only the children heard it. Drawn as by magic, they
hurried out of their homes. Again, the Pied Piper paced through the
town, this time, it was children of all sizes that flocked at his heels
to the sound of his strange piping.
The long procession soon left the town and made its way through the
wood and across the forest till it reached the foot of a huge mountain.
When the Piper came to the dark rock, he played his pipe even louder
still and a great door creaked open. Beyond lay a cave. In trooped the
children behind the Pied Piper, and when the last child had gone into
the darkness, the door creaked shut. Many years were to pass before the
merry voices of other children would ring through the streets of Hamelin
but the memory of the harsh lesson lingered in everyone's heart and was
passed down from father to son through the centuries.
-Internet |