It was long time ago. There was a town in Germany called
Hamelin. Hamelin was a small but beautiful town. There was a river on one side
and a mountain on the other side. The people of this beautiful city were faced
with a great problem. There were thousands of rats everywhere. The city
dwellers became very intolerant of rats. Rats damaged their crops, clothes,
things for domestic use and what not. They chirped and ran to and fro in their
houses without the least fear of the cats. Rather they chased the cats and the
latter fled away. They talked and talked, but found no way out. At last they
decided to go to the Mayor to seek his help. They came to the Town Hall and
said to the Mayor, “Do something about the rats or we will send you packing.”
The Mayor trembled. He called a meeting of his councilors and discussed the
problem for hours, but they could not find any solution. They were in despair.
At that moment a tall thin stranger entered the Hall. His dress was made of
pieces of cloth of different colors. He went up to the council tables and said,
“People call me the Pied Piper. If you pay me a thousand guilders, I will rid
your town of rats.” The Mayor and his councilors got surprised seeing such a
stranger. The Mayor said, “I will pay you a thousand guilders, but after you
have removed all the rats from my town.” The Pied Piper agreed. He went out of
the council room and started playing on a strange flute. Hearing the flute, all
the rats, big and small, started following the Pied Piper. The Pied Piper was
going towards the river playing on the flute. When he reached the bank of the
river Weser, all the rats started jumping into the river. Thus all the rats
were removed from the town. Then the Pied Piper demanded his guilders from the
Mayor. But the Mayor refused to give him one thousand guilders. The Pied Piper
again started playing on another strange flute. Hearing the flute, the
children, big and small, started following him like the rats. The piper took
them to the mountains and disappeared with the children. Thus the town lost all
the children.
End
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