The Pied Piper of Hamelin. H I. AMELIN Town's in Brunswick, By famous Hanover city; The river Weser, deep and wide, Almost five hundred years ago, From vermin, was a pity. II. Rats! They fought the dogs, and killed the cats, And bit the babies in the cradles, And ate the cheeses out of the vats, And licked the soup from the cook's own ladles, Split open the kegs of salted sprats, Made nests inside men's Sunday hats, And even spoiled the women's chats, III. At last the people in a body To the Town Hall came flocking : "'Tis clear,” cried they, "our Mayor's a noddy; And as for our Corporation-shocking To think we buy gowns lined with ermine For dolts that can't or won't determine What's best to rid us of our vermin! You hope, because you're old and obese, To find in the furry civic robe ease? Rouse up, Sirs! Give your brains a racking Or, sure as fate, we'll send you packing!' IV. An hour they sate in counsel— At length the Mayor broke silence: It's easy to bid one rack one's brain- Just as he said this, what should hap Looking little, though wondrous fat; Nor brighter was his eye, nor moister Than a too-long-opened oyster, Save when at noon his paunch grew mutinous For a plate of turtle, green and glutinous,) "Only a scraping of shoes on the mat? Anything like the sound of a rat Makes my heart go pit-a-pat !" V. "Come in!"-the Mayor cried, looking bigger: And in did come the strangest figure! His queer long coat from heel to head But lips where smiles went out and in— Quoth one : It's as my great-grandsire, Had walked this way from his painted tombstone!" VI. He advanced to the council-table : And, "Please your honours," said he, "I'm able, By means of a secret charm, to draw On creatures that do people harm— The mole, and toad, and newt, and viper And people call me the Pied Piper.” (And here they noticed round his neck A scarf of red and yellow stripe, To match with his coat of the self-same check; And at the scarf's end hung a pipe ; And his fingers, they noticed, were ever straying Upon this pipe, as low it dangled Over his vesture so old-fangled.) ་་ 'Yet," said he, poor piper as I am, In Tartary I freed the Cham, Last June, from his huge swarm of gnats; I eased in Asia the Nizam Of a monstrous brood of vampire-bats; Will you give me a thousand guilders?" VII. Into the street the Piper stept, To blow the pipe his lips he wrinkled, -Save one who, stout as Julius Cæsar, (As he the manuscript he cherished) To Rat-land home his commentary, Which was : At the first shrill notes of the pipe, I heard a sound as of scraping tripe, And putting apples, wondrous ripe, And a moving away of pickle-tub-boards, And it seemed as if a voice (Sweeter far than by harp or by psaltery And just as a bulky sugar-puncheon, Just as methought it said, Come, bore me! VIII. You should have heard the Hamelin people Of the rats!"-when suddenly up the face Of the Piper perked in the market-place, With a "First, if you please, my thousand guilders!" IX. A thousand guilders! The Mayor looked blue; So did the Corporation too. For council dinners made rare havock With Claret, Moselle, Vin-de-Grave, Hock; Their cellar's biggest butt with Rhenish. With a gipsy coat of red and yellow! "Beside," quoth the Mayor, with a knowing wink, Our business was done at the river's brink; We saw with our eyes the vermin sink, And what's dead can't come to life, I think. So, friend, we're not the folks to shrink From the duty of giving you something for drink, |