They have whetted their teeth against the stones, For they were sent to do judgment on him! Robert Southey [1774-1843] THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN A CHILD'S STORY I. HAMELIN Town's in Brunswick, By famous Hanover city; The river Weser, deep and wide, Washes its wall on the southern side; A pleasanter spot you never spied; But, when begins my ditty, Almost five hundred years ago, To see the townsfolk suffer so From vermin was a pity. II Rats! They fought the dogs and killed the cats, And bit the babies in the cradles, And ate the cheeses out of the vats, And licked the soup from the cooks' own ladles, Split open the kegs of salted sprats, Made nests inside men's Sunday hats, And even spoiled the women's chats ( III At last the people in a body To the Town Hall came flocking: ""Tis clear," cried they, "our Mayor's a noddy; And as for our Corporation,-shocking The Pied Piper of Hamelin 193 To think we buy gowns lined with ermine Or, sure as fate, we'll send you packing!" Quaked with a mighty consternation. At length the Mayor broke silence: It's easy to bid one rack one's brain,- (With the Corporation as he sat, Looking little though wondrous fat; Nor brighter was his eye, nor moister Than a too-long-opened oyster, Save when at noon his paunch grew mutinous For a plate of turtle green and glutinous) "Only a scraping of shoes on the mat? Anything like the sound of a rat Makes my heart go pit-a-pat!" V "Come in!" the Mayor cried, looking bigger: And in did come the strangest figure! His queer long coat from heel to head And light loose hair, yet swarthy skin, Starting up at the Trump of Doom's tone, Had walked this way from his painted tombstone!" VI He advanced to the council-table: And, "Please your honors," said he, "I'm able, By means of a secret charm, to draw On creatures that do people harm, The mole and toad and newt and viper; A scarf of red and yellow stripe, To match with his coat of the self-same check, And at the scarf's end hung a pipe; And his fingers, they noticed, were ever straying As if impatient to be playing Upon this pipe, as low it dangled Over his vesture so old-fangled.) "Yet," said he, "poor piper as I am, In Tartary I freed the Cham, Last June, from his huge swarms of gnats; I eased in Asia the Nizam Of a monstrous brood of vampire-bats; Will you give me a thousand guilders?” The Pied Piper of Hamelin VII Into the street the Piper stepped, Smiling first a little smile, As if he knew what magic slept In his quiet pipe the while; To blow the pipe his lips he wrinkled, Which was: "At the first shrill notes of the pipe, I heard a sound as of scraping tripe, And putting apples, wondrous ripe, And a moving away of pickle-tub-boards, 195 And it seemed as if a voice (Sweeter far than by harp or by psaltery And just as a bulky sugar-puncheon, Just as methought it said, 'Come, bore me!'- VIII You should have heard the Hamelin people Of the rats!"--when suddenly, up the face Of the Piper perked in the market-place, With a "First, if you please, my thousand guilders!” IX A thousand guilders! the Mayor looked blue; So did the Corporation too. For council-dinners made rare havoc With Claret, Moselle, Vin-de-Grave, Hock; And half the money would replenish Their cellar's biggest butt with Rhenish. To pay this sum to a wandering fellow With a gypsy coat of red and yellow! "Beside," quoth the Mayor, with a knowing wink, "Our business was done at the river's brink; We saw with our eyes the vermin sink, And what's dead can't come to life, I think. So, friend, we're not the folks to shrink From the duty of giving you something to drink, |