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[Pg 1]

The
Pied Piper

of

Hamelin

[Pg 2]


[Pg 3]

THE PIED PIPER

OF

HAMELIN

BY

ROBERT BROWNING

ILLUSTRATED BY

KATE GREENAWAY

LONDON
FREDERICK WARNE AND CO., Ltd.
AND NEW YORK

[Pg 4]

Printed in U.S.A.


[Pg 5]


THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN

And ate the cheeses out of the vats.

[Pg 8]

And licked the soup from the cook's own ladles,

[Pg 9]

Split open the kegs of salted sprats,
Made nests inside men's Sunday hats,

[Pg 10]

And even spoiled the women's chats,

[Pg 11]

By drowning their speaking
With shrieking and squeaking
In fifty different sharps and flats.

[Pg 12]

And at the scarf's end hung a pipe;
And his fingers they noticed were ever straying
As if impatient to be playing
Upon his pipe, as low it dangled
Over his vesture so old-fangled.)

[Pg 16]

"Yet," said he, "poor Piper as I am,
In Tartary I freed the Cham,
Last June, from his huge swarms of gnats,
I eased in Asia the Nizam
Of a monstrous brood of vampyre-bats:
And as for what your brain bewilders,
If I can rid your town of rats
Will you give me a thousand guilders?"
"One? fifty thousand!"—was the exclamation
Of the astonished Mayor and Corporation.

[Pg 17]

And the muttering grew to a grumbling;
And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling;
And out of the houses the rats came tumbling.
Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats,
Brown rats, black rats, grey rats, tawny rats,
Grave old plodders, happy young friskers,
[Pg 19] Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins,
Cocking tails and pricking whiskers,
Families by tens and dozens,
Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives—
Followed the Piper for their lives.
From street to street he piped advancing,
And step for step they followed dancing,
Until they came to the river Weser
Wherein all plunged and perished!
—Save one who, stout as Julius Cæsar,
Swam across and lived to carry
(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,
Into a cider-press's gripe:
And a moving away of pickle-tub-boards,
And a leaving ajar of conserve-cupboards,
And a drawing the corks of train-oil-flasks,
And a breaking the hoops of butter-casks:
And it seemed as if a voice
(Sweeter far than by harp or by psaltery
Is breathed) called out, 'Oh rats, rejoice!
The world is grown to one vast drysaltery!
So munch on, crunch on, take your nuncheon,
Breakfast, supper, dinner, luncheon!'
And just as a bulky sugar-puncheon,
All ready staved, like a great sun shone
Glorious scarce an inch before me,
Just as methought it said, 'Come, bore me!'
—I found the Weser rolling o'er me."

[Pg 20]

Consult with carpenters and builders,
And leave in our town not even a trace
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!"

[Pg 22]

[Pg 24]

And ere he blew three notes

[Pg 27]

(such sweet
Soft notes as yet musician's cunning
Never gave the enraptured air)

[Pg 28]

There was a rustling,

[Pg 29]

that seemed like a bustling

[Pg 30]

Of merry crowds justling at pitching and hustling,

[Pg 31]

Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clattering,

[Pg 32]

Little hands clapping and little tongues chattering,

[Pg 33]

And, like fowls in a farm-yard when barley is scattering,

[Pg 34]

Out came the children running.

[Pg 35]

All the little boys and girls,

[Pg 36]

With rosy cheeks and flaxen curls,

[Pg 37]

And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls.

[Pg 38]

Tripping

[Pg 39]

and skipping,

[Pg 40]

ran merrily after

[Pg 41]

The wonderful music with shouting and laughter.

[Pg 42]

[Pg 45] Where waters gushed and fruit-trees grew,
And flowers put forth a fairer hue,
And everything was strange and new;
The sparrows were brighter than peacocks here,
And their dogs outran our fallow deer,
And honey-bees had lost their stings,
And horses were born with eagles' wings;
And just as I became assured
My lame foot would be speedily cured,
The music stopped and I stood still,
And found myself outside the hill,
Left alone against my will,
To go now limping as before,
And never hear of that country more!"