It was a great honor, let me tell you; and Doris, as she sat by the
window studying, could not help thinking of it and feeling just a wee
bit important.
"It is n't as if I were the oldest girl," said she to herself. "No,
indeed; I 'm younger than most of them, and yet when it came to
choosing who should speak, and we were each given a chance to vote, I
had the most ballots. Miss Smith told me I could recite anything I
chose, but to be sure it was 'good,' and that it was not 'beyond me.'
Well, this is n't 'beyond me.' I guess;" and she began:--
"Hamelin Town 's in Brunswick,
By famous Hanover City;
The river Weser, deep and wide,
Washes its walls on the southern side,--
A pleasanter spot you never spied.
But, when begins my ditty,
Almost five hundred years ago,
To see the townfolk suffer so
With vermin was a pity."
For she had chosen Browning's "Pied Piper of Hamelin." That was surely
"good;" and if it was long, why, it was "so interesting." As she went
along she could almost see the rats as they "fought the dogs and killed
the cats." She could almost see the great Mayor tremble as the people
flocked to him and threatened to "send him packing" if he did n't find
some means to rid them of those awful rats. She could almost hear the
Pied Piper's voice as he offered to clear the town of the pests; and it
seemed to her she could hear the music of his pipe as he stepped into
the street and began to play, while the rats from every hole and cranny
followed him to the very banks of the Weser, where they were drowned in
the rolling tide.
It seemed awful that after promising the Piper those fifty thousand
guilders, the Mayor should break his word; and it certainly was
terrible, when the Piper found he had been duped, that he should again
begin to pipe, and that the children--yes, every one in Hamelin
Town--should follow him just as the rats had done, and that by and by
he should lead them to the mountain-side, that it should open, and
that, lo! after they had all passed in, it should close again, leaving
only one little lame boy outside, weeping bitterly because he had not
been able to walk fast enough to keep up with the merry crowd. It was
all so distinct and plain.
She wondered where the children went after the hill-side shut them in.
She wondered what they saw. She thought the Piper's music must have
been very odd indeed to charm them so. She could almost hear-- _What
was that_? She gave a start; for sure as you live, she heard the sound
of a fife piping shrill and loud round the corner. She flung down the
book and ran into the street. The air was cold and sharp and made her
shiver, but she did not stop to think of that; she was listening to
that Piper who was coming around the side of the house,--nearer and
nearer. She meant to follow him, whoever he was. There! How the wind
whistled and the leaves scurried!
Wind! Leaves! Why, it was the Pied Piper himself with his puffed
cheeks and tattered coat; and before him ran the host of children,
dancing, as they went, to the tune of the Piper's fife.