Page:Curious myths of the Middle Ages (1876).djvu/430

 sum of money to rid the place of the vermin. The townsmen agreed to his proposal, and promised him the sum demanded. Thereupon the man drew forth a pipe and piped. “And ere three shrill notes the pipe utter’d, You heard as if an army mutter’d; And the muttering grew to a grumbling, And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling: And out of the town the rats came tumbling. Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats, Brown rats, black rats, grey rats, tawny rats, Grave old plodders, gay young friskers, Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins, Cocking tails and pricking whiskers; Families by tens and dozens, Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, Follow’d the Piper for their lives. From street to street he piped advancing, Until they came to the river Weser, Wherein all plunged and perish’d.” No sooner were the townsfolk released from their torment, than they repented of their bargain, and, on the plea that the rat-destroyer was a sorcerer, they refused to pay the stipulated remuneration. At this the piper waxed wrath, and vowed vengeance. On the 26th June, the feast of SS. John and Paul, the mysterious Piper reappeared in Hameln town— “Once more he stept into the street, And to his lips again