Page:Curious myths of the Middle Ages (1876).djvu/429



AMELN town was infested with rats, in the year 1284. In their houses the people had no peace from them; rats disturbed them by night and worried them by day— They fought the dogs, and kill’d the cats, And bit the babies in the cradles, And ate the cheeses out of the vats, And lick’d the soup from the cook’s own ladles, Split open the kegs of salted sprats, Made nests inside men’s Sunday hats, And even spoil’d the women’s chats, By drowning their speaking With shrieking and squeaking In fifty different sharps and flats.”

One day, there came a man into the town, most quaintly attired in parti-coloured suit. Bunting the man was called, after his dress. None knew whence he came, or who he was. He announced himself to be a rat-catcher, and offered for a certain