Page:The Children Who Followed the Piper.djvu/31

WHO FOLLOWED THE PIPER the music told them this part of the story—how the Ram and the Hare went to Malpardus, Reynard's castle. They were to bring Reynard to the court of His Majesty the Lion. Ah, it would be bad for Reynard when he came before the Lion! He would be made to suffer for all his villainies. But the Fox played tricks upon the Ram and the Hare, and he kept away from the Lion's court. Oh, wasn't he clever! As the Pied Piper played, it seemed to the children that a little red fox ran beside him, playing and dancing and jumping.

When he had finished that tune he played it for them all over again. And then he played it again and again. Each time he played it, it seemed to the children to be more delightful than when he had played it before. On and on they went, following the music of the pipes and the light that shone out of them. Through cave after cave they went. Passages went up and passages went down, and passages wound around and about. But through all the passages they