THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN
You should have heard the Hamelin people
Ring, 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!"
A thousand guilders ! The Mayor looked blue ; 10
So did the Corporation too.
For council dinners made rare havoc
With Claret, Moselle, Vin-de-Grave, Hock ;
And half the money would replenish
Their cellar's biggest butt with Rhenish.
To pay this sum to a wandering fellow
With a gipsy coat of red and yellow !
" Besides," quoth the Mayor, with a knowing wink,
" Our business was done at the river's brink ;
We saw with our eyes the vermin sink, 20
And what's dead can't come to life, I think.
So, friend, we're not the folks to shrink
From the duty of giving you something for drink,
And a matter of money to put in your poke ;
But as for the guilders, what we spoke
Of them, as you very well know, was in joke.
Besides, our losses have made us thrifty !
A thousand guilders ! Come, take fifty ! "
The piper's face fell, and he cried,
" No trifling ! I can't wait, beside ! 30
I've promised to visit by dinner time
Bagdat, and accept the prime
Of the Head-Cook's pottage, all he's rich in,*
For having left, in the Caliph's kitchen,
Of a nest of scorpions no survivor :
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