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_ ACT I
[SCENE: The market-place of Hamelin. Right, the Minster, with an open shrine (right centre) containing a large sculptured figure of the Christ. Right, farther front, the house of KURT; and other narrow house-fronts. Left, the Rathaus, and (down) the home of JACOBUS. Front, to left and right, are corner-houses with projecting stories and casement windows. At the centre rear, a narrow street leads away between houses whose gables all but meet overhead.
It is late summer afternoon, with a holiday crowd. In the open casements, front (right and left, opposite each other), sit OLD URSULA and OLD CLAUS, looking on at men and things. --In the centre of the place now stands a rude wooden Ark with a tented top: and out of the openings (right and left) appear the artificial heads of animals, worn by the players inside. One is a Bear (inhabited by MICHAEL-THE-SWORD-EATER); one is a large Reynard-the-Fox, later apparent as the PIPER. Close by is the medieval piece of stage-property known as 'Hell-Mouth,' i.e. a red painted cave with a jaw-like opening into which a mountebank dressed in scarlet (CHEAT-THE-DEVIL) is poking 'Lost Souls' with a pitchfork.
BARBARA loiters by the tent. VERONIKA, the sad young wife of KURT, watches from the house steps, left, keeping her little lame boy, Jan, close beside her.
Shouts of delight greet the end of the show, a Noah's Ark miracle-play of the rudest; and the Children continue to scream with joy whenever an Animal looks out of the Ark.
Men and women pay scant attention either to JACOBUS, when he speaks (himself none too sober)--from his doorstep, prompted by the frowning KURT,--or yet to ANSELM, the priest, who stands forth with lifted hands, at the close of the miracle-play.]
ANSELM.
And you, who heed the colors of this show,
Look to your laughter!--It doth body forth
A Judgment that may take you unaware,--
Sun-struck with mirth, like unto chattering leaves
Some wind of wrath shall scourge to nothingness.
HANS, AXEL, AND OTHERS.
Hurrah, Hurrah!
JACOBUS.
And now, good townsmen all,
Seeing we stand delivered and secure
As once yon chosen creatures of the Ark,
For a similitude,--our famine gone,
Our plague of rats and mice,--
CROWD.
Hurrah--hurrah!
JACOBUS.
'Tis meet we render thanks more soberly--
HANS the Butcher.
Soberly, soberly, ay!--
JACOBUS.
For our deliverance.
And now, ye wit, it will be full three days
Since we beheld--our late departed pest.--
OLD URSULA.
[putting out an ear-trumpet]
What does he say?
REYNARD
[from the Ark]
--Oh, how felicitous!
HANS' WIFE.
He's only saying there be no more rats.
JACOBUS
[with oratorical endeavor]
Three days it is; and not one mouse,--one mouse,
One mouse, I say!--No-o-o! Quiet. . . as a mouse.
[Resuming]
And now. . .
CROWD.
Long live Jacobus!--
JACOBUS.
You have seen
Noah and the Ark, most aptly happening by
With these same play-folk. You have marked the Judgment.
You all have seen the lost souls sent to--Hell--
And, nothing more to do.--
[KURT prompts him]
Yes, yes.--And now. . .
[HANS the Butcher steps out of his group.]
HANS the Butcher.
Hath no man seen the Piper?--Please your worships.
OTHERS.
Ay, ay, so!
--Ay, where is he?
--Ho, the Piper!
JACOBUS.
Piper, my good man?
HANS the Butcher.
--He that charmed the rats!
OTHERS.
Yes, yes,--that charmed the rats!
JACOBUS
[piously]
Why, no man knows.--
Which proves him such a random instrument
As Heaven doth sometimes send us, to our use;
Or, as I do conceive, no man at all,--
A man of air; or, I would say--delusion.
He'll come no more.
REYNARD
[from the Ark]
Eh?--Oh, indeed, Meaow!
JACOBUS.
'Tis clearest providence. The rats are gone.
The man is gone. And there is nought to pay,
Save peaceful worship.
[Pointing to the Minster.]
REYNARD
[sarcastically]
Oh, indeed,--Meaow!
[Sudden chorus of derisive animal noises from the Ark,
delighting PEOPLE and CHILDREN.]
KURT.
Silence,--you strollers there! Or I will have you
Gaoled, one and all.
PEOPLE.
No, Kurt the Syndic, no!
BARBARA
[to Jacobus]
No; no! Ah, father, bid them stay awhile
And play it all again.--Or, if not all,
Do let us see that same good youth again,
Who swallowed swords--between the Ark Preserved
And the Last Judgment!
REYNARD.
Michael-the-Sword-Eater,
Laurels for thee!
[The BEAR disappears: MICHAEL puts out his own head, and gazes fixedly at BARBARA.]
CHILDREN.
Oh, can't we see the animals in the Ark?
Again? Oh, can't we see it all again?
ILSE.
Oh, leave out Noah! And let's have only Bears
And Dromedaries, and the other ones!--
[General confusion.]
KURT.
Silence!
JACOBUS.
Good people--you have had your shows;
And it is meet, that having held due feast,
Both with our market and this Miracle,
We bring our holiday to close with prayer
And public thanks unto Saint Willibald,--
Upon whose day the rats departed thence.
REYNARD.
[loudly]
Saint Willibald!
BEAR.
--Saint Willibald!
OTHER ANIMALS.
[looking out]
( Saint Willibald!
( Saint! Oh!
CROWD.
Saint Willibald!--And what had he to do
With ridding us o' rats?
HANS the Butcher.
'T was the Piping Man
Who came and stood here in the market-place,
And swore to do it for one thousand guilders!
PETER [the Cobbler]
Ay, and he did it, too!--Saint Willibald!
[Renewed uproar round the tent.]
KURT
[to Jacobus]
Drive out those mountebanks! 'T is ever so.
Admit them to the town and you must pay
Their single show with riotings a week.--
Look yonder at your daughter.
[BARBARA lingers by the Ark-Tent, gazing with girlish interest at MICHAEL, who gazes at her, his bear-head in his band for the moment.]
JACOBUS.
Barbara!
[She turns back, with an angry glance at KURT.]
AXEL the Smith.
[doggedly to them]
By your leave. Masters! I would like to know,
How did Saint Willibald prevail with the rats?--
That would I like to know. I, who ha' made
Of strong wrought traps, two hundred, thirty-nine,
Two hundred, thirty-nine.
REYNARD
[calling]
And so would I!
HANS the Butcher.
So please your worships, may it please the Crier,
Now we be here,--to cry the Piping Man--
PETER the Cobbler.
A stranger-man, gay-clad,--in divers colors!
Because he, with said piping--
HANS the Butcher.
--Drave away
The horde of rats!
PETER the Cobbler.
[sagely]
To our great benefit;
And we be all just men.
OTHERS
Ay, ay!--Amen!
WOMEN.
Amen, Our Lady and the blessed Saints!
JACOBUS.
Why, faith, good souls, if ye will have him cried,
So be it.--But the ways of Heaven are strange!
Mark how our angel of deliverance came,--
Or it may be. Saint Willibald himself,--
Most piedly clothed, even as the vilest player!--
And straight ascended from us, to the clouds!
But cry him, if you will.--Peace to your lungs!--
He will not come.
[KURT wrathfully consults with JACOBUS, then signals to Crier.]
CRIER.
Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!
Whereas, now three days gone, our Plague of Rats
Was wholly driven hence, our City cleansed,
Our peace restored after sore threat of famine,
By a Strange Man who came not back again,
Now, therefore, if this Man have ears to hear,
Let him stand forth.--Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!
[Trumpet.--PEOPLE gaze up and down the little streets.--REYNARD steps out of the Ark and comes down slowly, with a modest air.--KURT points him out, threateningly, and the CROWD bursts into derisive laughter.--He doffs his animal-head at leisure, showing a sparkling dark-eyed face.]
ALL.
The Man! the Man!
KURT AND JACOBUS.
The Devil!--'T is--
ALL.
--THE PIPER!
[The PIPER regards them all with debonair satisfaction; then reverses his head-piece and holds it out upside-down, with a confident smile.]
PIPER.
Three days of rest, your worships, you have had.
I see no signs of famine hereabout.
The rats are gone, even to the nethermost tail:
And I've fulfilled my bargain. Is it granted?
[Murmurs, then cheers of "Ay, Ay, PIPER!" from the crowd.]
Thank 'ee.--My thousand guilders, an you please.
JACOBUS
One thou--Come, come! This was no sober bargain.--
No man in reason could--
PIPER.
One thousand guilders.
KURT.
One thousand rogueries!
JACOBUS
[to PIPER]
You jest too far.
AXEL.
Lucky, if he get aught!--Two hundred traps,
And nine, and thirty! By Saint Willibald,
When was I paid?
AXEL'S WIFE.
Say, now!
PIPER.
. . . One thousand guilders.
PETER. the Cobbler
Give him an hundred.
HANS. the Butcher
Double!
HANS' WIFE.
You were fools
To make agreement with him.--Ask old Claus.
He has the guilders; and his house was full
0' rats!
OLD CLAUS
[shaking his stick from the window]
You Jade! And I that hoard, and save,
And lay by all I have from year to year,
To build my monument when I am gone,
A fine new tomb there, in Saint Boniface!
And I to pay for all your city rats!
OLD URSULA
[leaning out, opposite]
Right, neighbor, right well said!--Piper, hark here.
Piper, how did ye charm the rats away?
PIPER
[coming down]
The rats were led--by Cu-ri-os-ity.
'Tis so with many rats; and all old women;--
Saving your health!
JACOBUS.
No thought for public weal,
In this base grasping on--
PIPER.
One thousand guilders.
KURT
[contemptuously]
For piping!
PIPER.
Shall I pipe them back again?
WOMEN.
( Good Saint Boniface!
Merciful heaven! ( Good Saint Willibald!
( Peter and Paul defend us!
HANS the Butcher.
No, no; no fear o' that. The rats be drowned.
We saw them with our eyes.
PIPER.
Now who shall say
There is no resurrection for a mouse?
KURT.
--Do you but crop this fellow's ears!--
VERONIKA
[from the steps]
Ah, Kurt!
JACOBUS
[to him, blandly]
Deal patiently, good neighbor. All is well.
[To the PIPER]
Why do you name a price so laughable,
My man? Call you to mind; you have no claim,--
No scrip to show. You cling upon--
PIPER
[sternly]
Your word.
JACOBUS.
I, would say--just--
PIPER.
Your word.
JACOBUS
Upon--
PIPER
Your word.
Sure, 't was a rotten parchment!
JACOBUS
This is a base,
Conniving miser!
PIPER
[turning proudly]
Stand forth, Cheat-the-Devil!
[Up steps the DEVIL in red. PEOPLE shrink, and then come closer.]
Be not afeard. He pleased you all, of late.
He hath no sting.--So, boy! Do off thy head.--
[CHEAT-THE-DEVIL doffs his red head-dress and stands forth, a pale and timorous youth, gentle and half-witted.]
Michael, stand forth!
[MICHAEL comes down, bear-head in hand.]
BARBARA
[regarding him sadly]
That goodly sword-eater!
PIPER
[defiantly]
So, Michael, so.--These be two friends of mine.
Pay now an even third to each of us.
Or, to content your doubts, to each of these
Do you pay here and now, five hundred guilders.
Who gets it matters little, for us friends.
But you will pay the sum, friend. You will pay!--
HANS, AXEL, AND CROWD.
Come, there's an honest fellow. Ay, now, pay!
--There's a good friend.--And would I had the same.
--One thousand guilders?
--No, too much.
--No, no.
KURT.
Pay jugglers?--With a rope apiece!
JACOBUS.
Why--so--
PIPER.
They are my friends; and they shall share with me.
'T is time that Hamelin reckoned us for men;
--Hath ever dealt with us as we were vermin.
Now have I rid you of the other sort--
Right you that score!--
KURT.
These outcasts!
PIPER
[hotly]
Say you so?
Michael, my man! Which of you here will try
With glass or fire, with him?
MICHAEL
[sullenly]
No, no more glass, to-day!
PIPER.
Then fire and sword!
[They back away.]
So!--And there's not one man
In Hamelin, here, so honest of his word.
Stroller! A pretty choice you leave us.--Quit
This strolling life, or stroll into a cage!
What do you offer him? A man eats fire--
Swords, glass, young April frogs--
CHILDREN.
Do it again!
Do it again!
PIPER.
You say to such a man,--
'Come be a monk! A weaver!' Pretty choice.
Here's Cheat-the-Devil, now.
PETER the Cobbler.
But what's his name?
PIPER.
He doesn't know. What would you? Nor do I.
But for the something he has seen of life,
Making men merry, he 'd know something more!
The gentlest devil ever spiked Lost Souls
Into Hell-mouth,--for nothing-by-the-day!
OLD URSULA
[with her ear-trumpet]
Piper, why do you call him Cheat-the-Devil?
PIPER.
Because his deviltry is all a cheat:--
He is no devil,--but a gentle heart!
--Friend Michael here hath played the Devil, betimes,
Because he can so bravely breathe out fire.
He plied the pitchfork so we yelped for mercy,--
He reckoned not the stoutness of his arm!--
But Cheat-the-Devil here,--he would not hurt
Why--Kurt the Syndic--thrusting him in hell.
[Laughter.
CHEAT-THE-DEVIL
[unhappily]
No, no--I will not hurt him!
PIPER
[soothingly to him]
Merry, boy!
[To the townsfolk]
And,--if ye will have reasons, good,--ye see,--
I want--one thousand guilders.
JACOBUS.
In all surety,
Payment you'll have, my man, But--
HANS the Butcher.
As to 's friends,--
An that yon Devil be as feat wi' his hands
As he be slow o' tongue, why, I will take him
For prentice. Wife,--now that would smack o' pride!
PETER the Cobbler.
I'll take this fellow that can swallow fire,
He's somewhat old for me. But he can learn
My trade.--A pretty fellow!
PIPER.
And your trade?
PETER the Cobbler.
Peter the cobbler.--
MICHAEL.
I? What, I? Make shoes?
[Proudly]
I swallow fire.
PIPER.
Enough.
BARBARA
[aside, bitterly]
I'll not believe it.
PIPER
[to HANS]
Your trade?
HANS the Butcher.
I'm Hans the Butcher.
MICHAEL.
Butcher?
CHEAT-THE-DEVIL
[unhappily]
Butcher!
Oh, no! I couldn't hurt them.
[Loud laughter.]
BUTCHER'S WIFE
'T is a fool!
[The PIPER motions to MICHAEL and CHEAT-THE-DEVIL, who during the following join the other player-folk, strike their tent, pack their bundles, and wheel off the bar rows that have served them for an Ark, leaving the space clear before the Shrine. Exeunt Strollers, all but MICHAEL, who hangs about, still gazing at BARBARA.]
JACOBUS.
Good people, we have wasted time enow.
You see this fellow, that he has no writ--
PIPER.
Why not, then? 'T was a bargain. If your word
Hold only when 't is writ--
KURT.
We cannot spend
Clerkship on them that neither write nor read.
What good would parchment do thee?
JACOBUS.
My good man--
PIPER.
Who says I cannot read?--Who says I cannot?
OLD CLAUS.
Piper, don't tell me you can read in books!
PIPER
[at bay]
Books! Where's a book? Shew me a book, I say!
OLD URSULA.
The Holy Book! Bring that--or he'll bewitch you.
PIPER.
Oh, never fear. I charm but fools and children;
Now that the rats are gone.--Bring me a Book:
A big one!--
[Murmurs. The PIPER defiant. The crowd moves towards the Minster. Enter ANSELM the priest, with a little acolyte,--the two bearing a large illuminated Gospel-book. ANSELM, eyeing the PIPER gravely, opens the book, which the boy supports on his head and shoulders.]
PIPER.
Ho, 't is too heavy! Come, you cherub-head,
Here's too much laid upon one guardian angel!
[Beckons another small boy, and sets the book on their two backs.
Well?--well? What now?
[He looks in frank bewilderment at the eager crowd.
CROWD.
Read, read!
KURT.
He cannot read.
PIPER
[to ANSELM]
Turn--turn--there's nothing there.
[ANSELM turns pages. PIPER looks on blankly]
. . . Ah, turn again!
The red one!--
[He takes his fife from his belt]
No, the green! The green one. So.
[Starts to pipe, looking on the book.]
CROWD.
( Sure 't is a mad-man!
( But hear him piping!
( What is he doing?
PIPER
[puzzled at their mirth]
What the green one says.--
[A burst of laughter from the crowd. JAN, the little lame boy on the steps, reaches his arms out suddenly and gives a cry of delight.]
JAN.
Oh, I love the Man!
[He goes, with his crutch, to the PIPER, who turns and gathers him close.]
JACOBUS
[to the People]
Leave off this argument.
KURT
Go in to Mass.
JACOBUS
Saint Willibald!
PIPER
[in a rage]
That Saint!--
KURT.
Hence, wandering dog!
PIPER.
Oho!--Well, every Saint may have his day.
But there are dog-days coming.--Eh, your worship?
[To ANSELM, suddenly]
You, there! You--Brother--Father--Uncle--You!
Speak! Will you let them in, to say their prayers
And mock me through their fingers?--Tell these men
To settle it, among their mouldy pockets,
Whether they keep their oath. Then will I go.
KURT
[savagely]
Away with you!--
ANSELM.
The Piper should be heard;
Ye know it well. Render to Caesar, therefore,
That which is Caesar's.
PIPER.
--Give the Devil his due!
JACOBUS
[warily]
We must take counsel over such a sum.
[Beckoning others, he and KURT go into the Rathaus, followed by all the men. Exit ANSELM with the Holy Book into the Minster.--The children play Mouse, to and fro, round about the PIPER.--The women, some of them, spin on the doorsteps, with little hand distaff's, or stand about, gossiping.
[The PIPER wipes his forehead and goes up slowly (centre) to drink from the fountain at the foot of the Shrine.--MICHAEL, like one in a dream, comes down towards BARBARA, who gazes back at him, fascinated, through her laughter.]
BARBARA.
Is it for pay you loiter, Master Player?
Were you not paid enough?
MICHAEL.
No.--One more look.
BARBARA.
Here, then.--Still not enough?
MICHAEL.
No! One more smile.
BARBARA
[agitated ]
Why would you have me smile?
MICHAEL
[passionately]
Oh, when you smiled,
It was--it was like sunlight coming through
Some window there,
[Pointing to the Minster]
--some vision of Our Lady.
[She drops her flowers.--He picks them up
and gives them back slowly.
BARBARA.
Who are you? You are some one in disguise.
MICHAEL
[bitterly]
A man--that passes for a mountebank.
BARBARA
[eagerly]
I knew!
MICHAEL.
What then?
BARBARA.
Thou art of noble birth.
'T is some disguise, this playing with the fire!
MICHAEL.
Yes.--For to-day, I lord it with the fire.
But it hath burned me, here.
[Touching his breast.]
[Overcome for the moment, she draws away.--
The PIPER, coming down, speaks stealthily to MICHAEL,
who is still gazing.
PIPER.
For all our sakes!
There is bad weather breeding.--Take to thy heels.
[BARBARA turns back to see MICHAEL withdrawing reluctantly, and throws a rose to him with sudden gayety.]
BARBARA.
Farewell to you, Sword-Swallower!--farewell!
MICHAEL
[looking back]
Farewell to you, my Lady, in-the-Moon.
[Exit.
[JAN clings once more to the PIPER, while the other children hang about. VERONIKA calls to her boy, from the steps.]
VERONIKA.
Darling.--
PIPER
[drawing nearer]
Is this your Boy?
VERONIKA.
Ay, he is mine;
My only one. He loved thy piping so.
PIPER.
And I loved his.
HANS' WIFE
[stridently]
Poor little boy! He's lame!
PIPER.
'T is all of us are lame! But he, he flies.
VERONIKA.
Jan, stay here if you will, and hear the pipe,
At Church-time.
PIPER
[to him]
Wilt thou?
JAN
[softly]
Mother lets me stay
Here with the Lonely Man.
PIPER.
The Lonely Man?
[JAN points to the Christ in the Shrine. VERONIKA crosses herself. The PIPER looks long at the little boy.]
VERONIKA.
He always calls Him so.
PIPER.
And so would I.
VERONIKA.
It grieves him that the Head is always bowed,
And stricken. But he loves more to be here
Than yonder in the church.
PIPER.
And so do I.
VERONIKA.
What would you, darling, with the Lonely Man?
What do you wait to see?
JAN
[shyly]
To see Him smile.
[The women murmur. The PIPER comes down further to speak to VERONIKA.]
PIPER.
You are some foreign woman. Are you not?
Never from Hamelin!
VERONIKA.
No.
AXEL'S WIFE
[to her child]
Then run along.
And ask the Piper if he'll play again
The tune that charmed the rats.
ANOTHER.
They might come back!
OLD URSULA
[calling from her window]
Piper! I want the tune that charmed the rats!
If they come back, I'll have my grandson play it.
PIPER.
I pipe but for the children.
ILSE
[dropping her doll and picking it up]
Oh, do pipe
Something for Fridolin!
HANSEL.
Oh, pipe at me!
Now I'm a mouse! I'll eat you up! Rr--rr!--
CHILDREN.
Oh, pipe! Oh, play! Oh, play and make us dance!
Oh, play, and make us run away from school!
PIPER.
Why, what are these?
CHILDREN
[scampering round him]
We're mice, we're mice, we're mice! . . .
We're mice, we're mice! We'll eat up everything!
MARTIN'S WIFE
[calling]
'T is church-time. La, what will the neighbors say?
ILSE
[Waving her doll]
Oh, please do play something for Fridolin!
AXEL'S WIFE.
Do hear the child. She's quite the little mother!
PIPER
A little mother? Ugh! How horrible.
That fairy thing, that princess,--no, that Child!
A little mother?
[To her]
Drop the ugly thing!
MARTIN'S WIFE.
Now, on my word! and what's amiss with mothers?
Are mothers horrible?
[The PIPER is struck with painful memories.]
PIPER.
No, no. But--care
And want and pain and age. . .
[Turns back to them with a bitter change of voice]
And penny-wealth,--
And penny-counting.--Penny prides and fears--
Of what the neighbors say the neighbors say!--
MARTIN'S WIFE.
And were you born without a mother, then?
ALL.
Yes, you there! Ah, I told you! He's no man.
He's of the devil.
MARTIN'S WIFE.
Who was your mother, then?
PIPER.
[fiercely]
Mine!--Nay, I do not know. For when I saw her,
She was a thing so trodden, lost and sad,
I cannot think that she was ever young,
Save in the cherishing voice.--She was a stroller;
My father was a stroller.--So, you have it!
And since she clave to him, and hunger too,
The Church's ban was on her.--Either live,
Mewed up forever,--she! to be a nun;
Or keep her life-long wandering with the wind;
The very name of wife stript from her troth.
That was my mother.--And she starved and sang;
And like the wind, she roved and lurked and shuddered
Outside your lighted windows, and fled by,
Storm-hunted, trying to outstrip the snow,
South, south, and homeless as a broken bird,--
Limping and hiding!--And she fled, and laughed,
And kept me warm; and died! To you, a Nothing;
Nothing, forever, oh, you well-housed mothers!
As always, always for the lighted windows
Of all the world, the Dark outside is nothing;
And all that limps and hides there in the dark;
Famishing,--broken,--lost!
And I have sworn
For her sake and for all, that I will have
Some justice, all so late, for wretched men,
Out of these same smug towns that drive us forth
After the show!--Or scheme to cage us up
Out of the sunlight; like a squirrel's heart
Torn out and drying in the market-place.
My mother! Do you know what mothers are?--
Your children! Do you know them? Ah, not you!
There's not one here but it would follow me,
For all your bleating!
AXEL'S WIFE.
Kuno, come away!
[The children cling to him. He smiles down triumphantly.]
PIPER.
Oho, Oho! Look you?--You preach--I pipe!
[Reenter the men, with KURT and JACOBUS,
from the Rathaus, murmuring dubiously.
[The PIPER sets down JAN and stands forth, smiling.
JACOBUS
[smoothly]
H'm! My good man, we have faithfully debated
Whether your vision of so great a sum
Might be fulfilled,--as by some miracle.
But no. The moneys we administer
Will not allow it; nor the common weal.
Therefore, for your late service, here you have
Full fifteen guilders,
[Holding forth a purse]
and a pretty sum
Indeed, for piping!
KURT
[ominously]
Take them!
JACOBUS.
Either that,
Or, to speak truly, nothing!
[The PIPER is motionless]
Come, come. Nay, count them, if you will.
KURT.
Time goes!
PIPER.
Ay. And your oath?
KURT.
No more; Enough.
[There is a sound of organ music from the Minster.]
VERONIKA
[beseechingly]
Ah, Kurt!
KURT
[savagely to the crowd]
What do ye, mewling of this fellow's rights?
He hath none!--Wit ye well, he is a stroller,
A wastrel, and the shadow of a man!
Ye waste the day and dally with the law.
Such have no rights; not in their life nor body!
We are in no wise bound. Nothing is his.
He may not carry arms; nor have redress
For any harm that men should put on him,
Saving to strike a shadow on the wall!
He is a Nothing, by the statute-book;
And, by the book, so let him live or die,
Like to a masterless dog!
[The PIPER stands motionless with head up-raised, not looking at KURT. The people, half-cowed, half-doubting, murmur and draw back. Lights appear in the Minster; the music continues. KURT and JACOBUS lead in the people. JACOBUS picks up the money-purse and takes it with him.
VOICES
[laughing, drunkenly]
One thousand guilders to a 'masterless dog'!
[Others laugh too, pass by, with pity and derision for the PIPER,
and echoes of 'MASTERLESS DOG!' Exeunt WOMEN and MEN to the
Minster. Only the children are left, dancing round the motionless
figure of the PIPER.
CHILDREN.
Oh, pipe again! Oh, pipe and make us dance!
Oh, pipe and make us run away from school!
Oh, pipe and make believe we are the mice!
[He looks down at them. He looks up at the houses. Then he signs to them, with his finger on his lips; and begins, very softly, to pipe the Kinder-spell. The old CLAUS and URSULA in the windows seem to doze.
The children stop first, and look at him, fascinated; then they laugh, drowsily, and creep closer,--JAN always near. They crowd around him. He pipes louder, moving backwards, slowly, with magical gestures, towards the little by-streets and the closed doors. The doors open, everywhere.
Out come the children: little ones in night gowns; bigger ones, with playthings, toy animals, dolls. He pipes, gayer and louder. They pour in, right and left. Motion and music fill the air. The PIPER lifts JAN to his shoulder (dropping the little crutch) and marches off, up the street at the rear, piping, in the midst of them all.
Last, out of the Minster come tumbling two little acolytes in red, and after them, PETER the Sacristan. He trips over them in his amazement and terror; and they are gone after the vanishing children before the church-people come out.
The old folks lean from their windows.]
OLD URSULA.
The bell, the bell! the church bell! They're bewitched!
[Peter rushes to the bell-rope and pulls it. The bell sounds heavily. Reenter, from the church, the citizens by twos and threes and scores.]
OLD URSULA.
I told ye all,--I told ye!--Devils' bargains!
[The bell]
[KURT, JACOBUS, and the others appear.]
KURT.
Peter the Sacristan! Give by the bell.
What means this clangor?
PETER the Sacristan.
They're bewitched! bewitched!
[Still pulling and shouting.]
URSULA
They're gone!
KURT.
Thy wits!
OLD CLAUS.
They're gone--they're gone--they're gone!
PETER the Sacristan.
The children!
URSULA.
--With the Piper! They're bewitched!
I told ye so.
OLD CLAUS.
--I saw it with these eyes!
He piped away the children.
[Horror in the crowd. They bring out lanterns and candles.
VERONIKA holds up the forgotten crutch']
VERONIKA.
Jan--my Jan!
KURT.
[to her]
Thy boy! But mine, my three, all fair and straight.--
AXEL'S WIFE
[furiously to him]
'T was thy false bargain, thine; who would not pay
The Piper.--But we pay!
PETER the Sacristan.
Bewitched, bewitched!
The boys ran out--and I ran after them,
And something red did trip me--'t was the Devil.
The Devil!
OLD URSULA.
Ah, ring on, and crack the bell:
Ye'll never have them back.--I told ye so!
[The bell clangs incessantly]
[Curtain] _
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