The Man With The Pipe

Many years ago in the village of Hamelin, there were very many rats. There were hundreds and hundreds of rats. These rats walked on the tables, when people were at dinner and ate the food from their plate.

When the babies were sleeping in their beds, they came and bit their fingers. They bit holes in shoes and stockings. When the men wanted to put on their hats, they found the nests of the rats in them. These rats ate the porridge, the sugar, the tea, the fish and meat in the houses. In the village, there were many cats and dogs; but the rats killed the cats and bit the dogs.

In the garden, the rats ate the oranges, bananas and mangoes. They climbed up the coconut trees and ate the coconut. The dug holes in the ground and ate the roots of the plants and the young green maize.

They went into the chicken-houses and killed the cocks and the hens and ate their eggs. They went to the river and caught the ducks and their babies.. They bit the cows, the sheep and the goats and drank their milk. At last, the people grew desperate. When they went to bed at night, they could not sleep. The rats came and bit their feet, their toes and their noses. The people of the village went to their chief and said: "These rats are eating all our food and all our clothes. It is your duty to kill the rats. If you can not do this, we shall soon have nothing to wear and nothing to eat. Then we shall die."

The chief of the village did not know how to kill the rats. He called the old men to his house. When they came, he said: "What can we do?" The men in the village are angry with me, but I do not know how to kill the rats." The old men sat in the chief house for three days and talked about it. The rats were not afraid of them. They came into the chief's house and carried away his food. The chief asked again and again. "Tell me. What can we do?" But the old men did not know how to kill the rats.

Suddenly, they heard a man knocking at the door. The chief cried: "Come in!" A man came in and said: "Good morning, chief." All the old men looked at him. He wore a silk coat, which was half white and half red. He was tall and thin. His eyes were large and bright. His cheeks were sun-burnt. Round his neck, he wore a pipe.

He walked up to the chief and said: "I have heard that there are a great many rats in your village. What will you give me if I kill them all for you?"

"Oh!" Cried the old man. "Can you do that?"

"Yes." Cried the chief. "If you can do that, we shall give you... How much do you want?"

"I will do it for a thousand silver coins." Said the man with the pipe.

"Help us quickly." Said the chief. "And we shall give you a thousand silver coins."

"All right." Said the man with the pipe. "I will do it for a thousand silver coins." He laughed and went out from the house.

Then the piper stepped into the street. He puts his pipe to his mouth and began to blow. The rats held up their heads and listened. They liked the music. There was a pitter-patter of a great many little feet and all the rats came running after the piper. There were hundreds of hundreds of rats. The piper walked on and on, playing all the time, and hundreds of rats followed him.

All the rats came out of the houses, till the road was full of them. On and on they went, the man with the pipe in front and all the rats behind him. At last they came to a very big river with a lot of water in it. The man stopped playing and all the rats ran into the river. They tried to swim. But the river was too big and they all died, except one very big and strong rat. This rat swam to the other bank and told his friends that the rats were in a delightful country.

"There they will always get delicious things to eat." He said. "No, rat will ever be angry. I am sorry I did not go with them."

The piper walked quietly back to the chief's house. When the village people heard that the rats were dead, they were very happy. They danced and laughed and sang because there were no more rats in their house. The piper went into the chief's house and said: "The rats are dead, Chief, now give me my thousand silver coins."

"Are they really all dead?" Said the chief. "You have done that very cleverly. But we have talked about that matter. I do not think we can give you a thousand silver coins. A thousand silver coins is a lot of money and we are not rich. The village is very poor and we can not give you as much as that. We shall give you three hundred silver coins It was an easy thing for you to put the rats into the river."

When the pipe heard that, he got angry. "If you do not give me my thousand silver coins at once." He said. "Something terrible will happen." The chief an the old men laughed loudly. "The rats are dead and you can not make them alive again." They said. The piper did not say anything. He went out of the house on to the road.

He put the pipe to his lips and blew. The children held up their heads and listened. They stopped playing and came running after the man with the pipe. All the children of the village followed him. When the chief and the old man saw the children running after the piper. They were afraid. They called the children but they did not come back. All the children ran after the piper. The road was full of children. They laughed and sang and danced and were very happy. They went with the piper out of the village. They listened to the music and at last came to a very high mountain.

The mountain opened before them and all the children went into the mountain. Only one little boy was left behind. He told his parent that his friends were in a delightful country. "There they will always get delicious things to eat." He said. "They will always be happy. I am sorry I did not go with them." The old man and the fathers and mothers were very sad. They looked everywhere but they could not find their children.

They said: "We shall give the piper a thousand silver coins if he gives us back our children." But they never saw the piper again in their village and they never saw those happy little children again. The End.

German Folklore (Grimms' Fairy Tales)