red fairy book

Chapter 34 The Ratcatcher

A long time ago, the small German city of Hammer was attacked by rats on an unprecedented scale.

These big black rats are unscrupulous, dare to run on the street during the day, and run around the house in groups.In the end, people have no place to put their hands and feet, and they can touch them wherever they are placed.When I got up in the morning and got dressed, there were mice in my pants, skirts, and boots.Looking for something to eat, from the cellar to the attic has been swept away by rats.

Even worse.No sooner had the lights been turned off than these indefatigable things began to make noise, on the ceiling, under the floor, in the cupboards, on the doors, they ran about like a saw, a pliers, a drilling, and even the deaf rested Not an hour.

Cats or dogs, poison or mousetraps, prayers or incense, are useless.The more dead, the more rats it seems.The small town of Harmo began to decline.One Friday, a very strange man came to the small town, playing bagpipes and singing songs.

Quivivraverra: Levoila, Lepreneurdesrats. He is a hulking fellow with a tanned black skin, an aquiline nose, a mustache like a mouse's tail, yellow eyes always sneering, and a big felt hat with bright red rooster feathers , wearing a green jacket with a belt, red breeches, and leather wrapped round and round his legs, like a tramp.

This is how he is known now, and his portrait is painted in the windows of Hammer Cathedral.

He stopped in the big market in front of the synagogue, and started playing and singing with his back to the synagogue.

"Behold, people who live here, it is he, Rat-catcher."

The city council is discussing how to get rid of the rats, and no one can save the city.

The stranger sent word to the council that, given enough money, he could kill all the rats before evening.

"He's a magician!" said the townspeople with one voice. "Beware of him!"

The congressman comforted them and said: "Whether it is a magician or not, if he is telling the truth, even if he harmed the city for money, we have to catch him in his trap. This matter will be left to me."

"Leave it to the senators." Everyone whispered.

The stranger was brought before them, and he said, "Tenpence a head. I'll kill all the rats."

"Ten pennies," cried they all. "Millions of florins!"

Shrugging his shoulders, the congressman said to the stranger, "It's a deal! Go ahead and do it at your price."

The bagpiper says it starts when the moon rises.He asked that the streets should be cleared at that time, and people could lie on the windows and watch, which should be quite spectacular.When the Hammer heard of the deal, he said, "Tenpence a mouse, that's a lot!"

"Let the council member take care of this matter." The city committee member said maliciously, and the Hammer passed it on to the council member:

"Let the MP take care of that."

At nine o'clock in the evening, the bagpipe player appeared at the gate of the market again.With his back to the synagogue, the bagpipes blew as the moon rose over the horizon.

At first it was a slow, melodious piano sound, and then it became more lively and faster, and the sound permeated every street in the city.

In a short while, the mice came out from under the cellar, on the roof of the attic, under the furniture, and in every corner of the house, and rushed into the street, forming a mighty procession, heading for the church.The line was so crowded, the whole street seemed to be in motion.

The square was full of rats, and while the piper was playing light music, he turned and walked towards the river, which was at the foot of the walls of Harmo.

When he got there, he turned and the mouse followed him.

"Jump! Jump!" he said, pointing to the middle of the river.There is a vortex on the surface of the river, like a big funnel.Jump!Jump!The mice jumped down without hesitation, and a group of mice jumped into the vortex and disappeared.

I jumped into the river until midnight, and at last a very old mouse came shuffling, all white, and stopped on the bank of the river.It is the rat king.

"Is it all here? Blanchett, my friend," asked the Piper.

"It's all there," Blanchett replied.

"How many?"

"99."

"Ready to count?"

"It's counted."

"Then go with them, Your Majesty, goodbye."

The old white mouse jumped into the river, fell into the whirlpool and disappeared.

When the Piper went to bed at night, he was still counting how much money he had made.That night, for the first time in three months, the Hammers got a good night's sleep.

At nine o'clock the next morning the Piper went to the synagogue again, where the councilors were waiting for him.

"Yesterday all your rats jumped into the river," he told the MPs, "I promise they won't come back.

99.Tenpence a mouse.Do the math. "

"Let's count. A tenpence a head, tenpence a head. Where's the head?"

The Piper didn't expect them to be so cunning, and his face turned pale with anger, and his eyes were about to burst into flames: "Boss! If you want, go to the river to find it!"

"So?" said the MP, "you are not willing to keep your agreement? Then we don't have to pay. But you have done something for us, and we can't let you get nothing." He gave the piper 1000 two hundred fifty pence.

"Keep it for yourself," said the Piper proudly. "If you don't pay me, your heirs will too."

After speaking, he pulled down his hat, pressed his eyes, and hurried out of the synagogue, leaving the city without saying a word.

When the Hammers heard of this, they rubbed their hands together with great joy, and made fun of the Piper, saying that he had jumped into his own trap.They laughed the hardest at the Pied Piper's last threat.Ha, that's what they hoped for every creditor they encountered in the future.

The next day was Sunday, and they went to church happily.Thinking after mass, they can eat good food before the rats.

They didn't expect that something terrible was waiting for them when they returned home.The children are missing, all the children are missing!

"Our child! Where is our poor child?" cried all the streets.

Three little boys came to the east gate, crying and saying, "When Mom and Dad went to the church, a beautiful music sounded. The children who were left at home all came out, and the magic music attracted them to the church." and they came to the market-place, where they saw the piper standing where he had stood the night before, and then the stranger walked quickly, and the children followed him, jumping and singing, to the town at the foot of the hill. The gate. When they arrived, the gate was opened a little, and the piper went out with them. Then the gate was closed. Only these three children remained, miraculously: one, because of a bad leg, walked Not fast; the other went out too hastily, fell on a stone, and could not go any further; the third caught up with the procession, but when he was pushing out of the city gate, he was too hard, and was thrown against the gable wall, and the gate I missed the closing time."

After hearing this, the parents felt even more sad. They went up the mountain with hoes and spears, and searched for the place where the children disappeared. They found nothing at night, and finally had to go home in despair.

But the saddest thing is the MP, who lost three sons and two daughters.The Hammers accused him of forgetting that they had supported his decision the night before.

Where are these unfortunate children?Parents always feel that their children are not dead.The piper was long gone on the hill, and must have gone to him with the children.For several years, they sent people to search in various countries, but no one knew the whereabouts of these children.

After a long, long time, there was no news of them.

150 years later, those children's parents, brothers, and sisters are no longer alive.Hamo came with a group of Bremen merchants who had returned from the East.They told that when passing through Hungary, they stayed for a few days in a mountainous region called Transylvania, where the residents spoke German, but the people around them spoke Hungarian.These people said they were all from Germany, but they had no idea how they got there. "Well, these people are probably descendants of your lost children," said the Bremen merchant.

The Hammers believed it.From that day on they considered the people of Transylvania to be their fellow countrymen, whose ancestors had been brought to Hungary by the pipers.In the world, there are many more unbelievable things than this!
(End of this chapter)