The Pied Piper

About your problem with rats. I can help you to get rid of them."

All at once the room was alive with excited shouts

Of "Oh, thank you, kind sir!" "We'd be so

Grateful to you!" "Of course, we'll pay you well!"

"The price," said the Pied Piper, "will be fifty gold pieces."

"Fifty!" cried the mayor. "Why, if you can rid our town of this

Terrible plague of rats, I will give you a hundred gold pieces."

The Pied Piper smiled a strange, crooked sort of

Smile and replied, "Dear sir, consider it done."

Before the mayor and his aldermen could blink, the

Piper had turned on his heels and was out of the door

"Quick, follow him," said the mayor, as he followed

The stranger down the stairs and out into the street

No sooner had the mayor stepped out of the city hall when

He heard a high-pitched whistle, three long notes. They

Seemed to hang in the air like a wonderful rainbow. The Piper

Stood in the middle of the marketplace, his head bent to

One side, playing this strange tune on his long wooden flute

Suddenly, without any warning, the rats that were scurrying to

And fro stopped in their tracks and turned their heads toward

The Piper, as if they were listening to the music. The Piper

Still playing his flute, walked slowly out of the marketplace

And headed toward the city walls, followed by a stream of rats

That were by now walking behind the Pied Piper in their thousands

Rats poured out into the street, until the cobblestones looked

Like a sea of gray and brown fur. The squeaking noise they made

Sent shivers up the mayor's back. On and on the Piper walked

Until at last he reached the fast-flowing river, whereupon the rats

Each and every one of them, jumped into the water and drowned

In Hamelin the townsfolk were celebrating. Bells were ringing

Children danced and sang, the town was back to its old self

The mayor and his aldermen were congratulating each other

And laughing loudly, when out from the merry crowd there

Came the Pied Piper. He walked up to the mayor and said

"The rats have gone. Give me my hundred gold pieces."

The smile from the mayor's face dropped as he said

"My good fellow, you didn't honestly expect me to

Pay you, did you? Begone, or I'll have you arrested!"

The Pied Piper fixed him with a steely stare and said, "

You'll be sorry that you betrayed me." He then lifted his

Flute to his lips and played the same long, shrill notes

The mayor and the aldermen froze in horror as they watched the

Children of Hamelin slowly follow the Pied Piper out of

The marketplace, to the city wall, and up a steep mountainside

Where they vanished, never to be seen again. The mayor

Had paid a very high price for lying to the stranger

The man who had become known as the Pied Piper of Hamelin