Into the street the piper stept,
Smiling first a little smile,
As if he knew what magic slept
    In his quiet pipe the while;
And ere three shrill notes the pipe uttered,
You heard as if an army muttered;
And the muttering grew to a grumbling,
And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling,
And out of the houses the rats came tumbling,—­
Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats,
Brown rats, black rats, gray rats, tawny rats,
Grave old plodders, gay young friskers,
Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins,
Families by tens and dozens,
Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives,—­
Followed the piper for their lives. 
From street to street he piped advancing,
And step for step they followed dancing,
Until they came to the river Weser,
Wherein all plunged and perished.

IX.

You should have heard the Hamelin people
Ringing the bells till they rocked the steeple. 
“Go,” cried the Mayor, “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, “First, if you please, my thousand guilders.” 
A thousand guilders; the Mayor looked blue
And so did the Corporation, too.

X.

“Beside,” quoth the Mayor, with a knowing wink,
“Our business was done at the river brink;
We saw with our eyes the vermin sink,
And what’s dead can’t come to life, I think. 
A thousand guilders?  Come, take fifty.” 
The Piper’s face fell, and he cried,
“No trifling.  Folks who put me in a passion
May find me pipe to another fashion.”

XI.

Once more he stepped into the street
And to his lips again
Laid his long pipe of smooth, straight cane;
And ere he blew three notes
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,
And, like fowls in a barnyard 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.

XII.

When, lo! as they reached the mountain’s side,
A wondrous portal opened wide,
As if a cavern were 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. 
Alas, alas for Hamelin!

XIII.