A thousand guilders!  The Mayor looked blue;
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. 160
This sum to a wandering fellow
With a gipsy coat of red and yellow! 
“Beside,” quoth the Mayor with a knowing wink,
Our business was done at the river’s brink;
We saw with our eyes the vermin sink,
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 170
Of them, as you very well know, was in joke. 
Beside, our losses have made us thrifty. 
A thousand guilders!  Come, take fifty!”

X

The Piper’s face fell, and he cried: 
“No trifling!  I can’t wait, beside! 
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:  180
With him I proved no bargain-driver,
With you, don’t think I’ll bate a stiver! 
And folks who put me in a passion
May find me pipe after another fashion.”

XI

“How? cried the Mayor, “d’ye think I brook
Being worse treated than a Cook? 
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!” 190

XII

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 musician’s cunning
        Never gave the enraptured air)
There was a rustling that seemed like a bustling
Of merry crowds justling at pitching and hustling,
Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clattering,
Little hands clapping and little tongues chattering, 200
And, like fowls in a farm-yard 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 and laughter.

XIII