All on the bare and bleak hillside,
One night this merry Christmastide,
A shivering hunted hare did hide;
Poor Pussy!
Though we had hunted puss all day,
The wind had blown her scent away,
And balked the dogs, so there she lay,
Poor Pussy!
There to the earth she humbly crept,
There brooding o'er her lot she wept,
There, on her empty stomach she slept.
Poor Pussy!
And there, while frozen fell the dew,
She dreamt an ugly dream or two,
As starved, wet folk are apt to do,
Did Pussy!
Loud hungry hounds of subtle ken,
And thundering steeds, and hard-eyed men,
Are fast on Pussy's trail again,
Poor Pussy!
Onwards she strains, on, as they tear
Foremost amongst the foremost there,
Are ruthless women's faces fair;
Poor Pussy!
One moment's check, to left, to right,
In vain she spends her little might,
Some yokel's eyes have marked her flight,
Poor Pussy!
What use her fine small wits to rack!
Closer, and faster on her track
Hurries the hydra-headed pack,
Lost Pussy!
"For pity's sake, kind huntsman, stop!
Call off the dogs before I drop,
And kill me with your heavy crop."
Shrieks Pussy!
With shuddering start and stifled scream,
She wakes!--She finds it all a dream;
How kind the cold, cold earth doth seem
To Pussy!
[Illustration: The Hare and the Tortoise.]
[Page 180--Rat Land]
[Illustration: A Gentleman Rat.]
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
--or--
The Vanished Children
Hamelin Town's in Brunswick
By famous Hanover city;
The river Weser, deep and wide,
Washes its wall on the southern side.
A pleasanter spot you never spied;
But, when begins my ditty,
Almost five hundred years ago,
To see the townsfolk suffer so
From vermin was a pity.
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,
By drowning their speaking,
With shrieking and squeaking
In fifty different sharps and flats.
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!
The mayor and Town Councillors were greatly perplexed what to do,
when there entered a strange-looking piper, and offered to charm away
all the rats for a thousand guilders. The council joyfully agreed to
this, and at once:--
Into the street the Piper swept,
Smiling first a little smile,
As if he knew what magic slept
In his quiet pipe the while:
Then, like a musical adept,
To blow the pipe his lips he wrinkled,
And green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled
Like a candle flame where salt is sprinkled;
And ere three shrill notes the pipe uttered,
You heard as if an army muttered;
And the muttering grew to a grumbling;
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, gay young friskers,
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,
Until they came to river Weser
Wherein all plunged and perished
--Save one.
You should have heard the Hamelin people
Ringing the bells till they rocked the steeple.
"Go," cried the Mayor, "and get long poles!
Poke out the nests and block up the holes!
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!"
The mayor and Councillors abused the Piper, refused to pay him the
thousand guilders, and offered him fifty and a drink, he refused to
take less than they had offered, and said:
"Folks who put me in a passion
May find me pipe to another fashion,"
"How?" cried the Mayor, "d'ye think I'll brook
Being worse treated than a crook?
Insulted by a lazy ribald
With idle pipe and vesture piebald?
You threaten us, fellow? Do your worst,
Blow your pipe there till you burst!"
Once more he stept into the street:
And to his lips again
Laid his long pipe of smooth straight cane;
And ere he blew three notes (such sweet
Soft notes as yet musicians cunning
Never gave the enraptured air),
There was a rustling, that seemed like a bustling
Of merry crowds pustling, at pitching and hustling,
Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clattering,
Little hands clapping, and little tongues chattering,
And like fowls in a farmyard when barley is scattering,
Out came the children running,
All the little boys and girls,
With rosy cheeks and flaxen curls,
And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls,
Tripping and skipping, ran merrily after
The wonderful music with shouting laughter.
The Mayor was dumb, and the Council stood
As if they were carved into blocks of wood,
Unable to move a step, or cry
To the children merrily skipping by--
And could only follow with the eye
That joyous crowd at the Piper's back.
But how the Mayor was on the rack,
And the wretched Council's bosoms beat,
As the Piper turned from the High street
To where the Weser rolled its waters
Right in the way of their sons and daughters!
However he turned from South to West,
And to Koppelberg Hill his steps addressed,
And after him the children pressed;
Great was the joy in every breast.
"He never can cross that mighty top!
He's forced to let the piping drop,
And we shall see out children stop!"
When lo! as they reached the mountain's side,
A wondrous portal opened wide,
As if a cavern was suddenly hollowed
And the Piper advanced and the children followed.
And when all were in to the very last,
The door in the mountain-side shut fast,
Did I say all? No! one was lame,
And could not dance the whole of the way!
And in after years, if you would blame
His sadness, he was used to say--
"It's dull in our town since my playmates left;
I can't forget that I'm bereft
Of all they pleasant sights they see,
Which the Piper also promised me;
For he led us, he said, to a joyous land,
Joining the town and just at hand,
Where waters gushed and fruit trees grew,
And flowers put forth a fairer hue.
[Page 181--Rat Land]
And everything was strange and new;
The sparrows were brighter than peacocks here,
And their dogs outran our fellow 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!"
Alas, alas for Hamelin!
There came into many a burgher's pate
A text which says, that Heaven's Gate
Opens to the Rich at as easy rate
As the needle's eye takes a camel in!
The mayor sent East, West, North and South,
To offer the Piper by word of mouth,
Wherever it was men's lot to find him,
Silver and gold to his heart's content,
If he'd only return the way he went,
And bring the children all behind him.
But at length they saw 'twas a lost endeavour,
For Piper and dancers were gone for ever.