67 lines
4.4 KiB
Plaintext
67 lines
4.4 KiB
Plaintext
THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN
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Once upon a time . . . on the banks of a great river in the north of
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Germany lay a town called Hamelin. The citizens of Hamelin were honest folk
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who lived contentedly in their grey stone houses. The years went by, and the
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town grew very rich. Then one day, an extraordinary thing happened to disturb
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the peace. Hamelin had always had rats, and a lot too. But they had never been
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a danger, for the cats had always solved the rat problem in the usual way - by
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killing them. All at once, however, the rats began to multiply.
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In the end, a black sea of rats swarmed over the whole town. First, they
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attacked the barns and storehouses, then, for lack of anything better, they
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gnawed the wood, cloth or anything at all. The one thing they didn't eat was
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metal. The terrified citizens flocked to plead with the town councillors to
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free them from the plague of rats. But the council had, for a long time, been
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sitting in the Mayor's room, trying to think of a plan.
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"What we need is an army of cats!"
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But all the cats were dead.
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"We'll put down poisoned food then . . ."
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But most of the food was already gone and even poison did not stop the rats.
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"It just can't be done without help!" said the Mayor sadly.
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Just then, while the citizens milled around outside, there was a loud knock
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at the door. "Who can that be?" the city fathers wondered uneasily, mindful of
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the angry crowds. They gingerly opened the door. And to their surprise, there
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stood a tall thin man dressed in brightly coloured clothes, with a long
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feather in his hat, and waving a gold pipe at them.
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"I've freed other towns of beetles and bats," the stranger announced, "and
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for a thousand florins, I'll rid you of your rats!"
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"A thousand florins!" exclaimed the Mayor. "We'll give you fifty thousand
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if you succeed!" At once the stranger hurried away, saying: "It's late now,
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but at dawn tomorrow, there won't be a rat left in Hamelin!"
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The sun was still below the horizon, when the sound of a pipe wafted
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through the streets of Hamelin. The pied piper slowly made his way through the
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houses and behind him flocked the rats. Out they scampered from doors, windows
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and gutters, rats of every size, all after the piper. And as he played, the
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stranger marched down to the river and straight into the water, up to his
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middle. Behind him swarmed the rats and every one was drowned and swept away
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by the current.
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By the time the sun was high in the sky, there was not a single rat in the
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town. There was even greater delight at the town hall, until the piper tried
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to claim his payment.
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"Fifty thousand florins?" exclaimed the councillors, "Never..."
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" A thousand florins at least!" cried the pied piper angrily. But the Mayor
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broke in. "The rats are all dead now and they can never come back. So be
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grateful for fifty florins, or you'll not get even that . . ."
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His eyes flashing with rage, the pied piper pointed a threatening finger at
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the Mayor.
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"You'll bitterly regret ever breaking your promise," he said, and vanished.
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A shiver of fear ran through the councillors, but the Mayor shrugged and
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said excitedly: "We've saved fifty thousand florins!"
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That night, freed from the nightmare of the rats, the citizens of Hamelin
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slept more soundly than ever. And when the strange sound of piping wafted
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through the streets at dawn, only the children heard it. Drawn as by magic,
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they hurried out of their homes. Again, the pied piper paced through the town,
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this time, it was children of all sizes that flocked at his heels to the sound
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of his strange piping. The long procession soon left the town and made its way
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through the wood and across the forest till it reached the foot of a huge
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mountain. When the piper came to the dark rock, he played his pipe even louder
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still and a great door creaked open. Beyond lay a cave. In trooped the
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children behind the pied piper, and when the last child had gone into the
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darkness, the door reaked shut. A great landslide came down the mountain
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blocking the entrance to the cave forever. Only one little lame boy escaped
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this fate. It was he who told the anxious citizens, searching for their
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children, what had happened. And no matter what people did, the mountain never
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gave up its victims. Many years were to pass before the merry voices of other
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children would ring through the streets of Hamelin but the memory of the harsh
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lesson lingered in everyone's heart and was passed down from father to son t
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hrough the centuries.
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