Once upon a time, a loud, shrill scream woke the small town of Hamelin, Germany.
"Out! Out!" cried a woman as she chased a large, brown rat out of her house. When she opened the door to let the one rat out, three more came in. "That was the last straw!" she shrieked as she threw down her broom. She stormed over to her still sleeping husband. "Get up now!" she ordered. The woman's husband yawned.
"My dear, it's too early. Let me sleep awhile longer…" The woman pulled her husband out of bed.
"Hans, you are going to go to the mayor's house right now! When you get there you are going to tell him we are sick of these rats!"
"Well… fine, I'll go. Just let me have breakfast before I leave," said Hans hungrily. His wife put her hands on her hips.
"There is no breakfast." Hans' eyes widened.
"No breakfast?!" he gasped. His wife nodded her head.
"The rats stole all the eggs and ate all the sausage and bacon."
"Something must be done about this!!" Hans exclaimed.
When Hans arrived at the mayor's house, a mob had already gathered. The poor mayor was a prisoner in his own house.
"Can't a man read his newspaper in peace?!" Mayor Willhelm yelled out the window. He turned to the second page of the Berlin Times (ignoring the parts that the rats had chewed out). There, in big bold letters, was an ad. It read:
Pied piper exterminatorsWe take care of all your extermination needs!
Price: 1000 guilders or all the children in your village.
Contact at: 1236 koëppen hill, Germany
"Finally! The solution to this town's problems!" Willhelm said to himself. He walked over to his desk and (after clearing it away of rats) took out a piece of paper. Then he wrote a letter to the Piper Exterminators.
A few days later, the mob of angry townspeople was still assembled outside the mayor's house. The mayor had a splitting head from listening to all the complaints.
"Those rats ate all my sewing!" cried the seamstress.
"They ate all the flour and bread!" shouted the baker.
"The rats ate the cheese right from our vats!" yelled the farmer.
"They ate my breakfast!" sobbed Hans.
"People of Hamelin!" they mayor shouted over the crowd. "Help is soon on the way! Any day now we shall be rid of these rodents for good!" All of a sudden, high pitched squeaks and shrieks cam from the distance. Every townsperson covered his or her ears.
"What is that awful sound?" they all cried. A young man wearing multi-colored clothing and a feathered hat walked into the village square. Mayor Wilhelm (followed by the villagers) ran over to the man.
"Excuse me," he said. "Are you the Pied Piper?"
"Pied Piper? No, I'm his brother the Fried Piper," the man said. The mayor's wife pushed her way through the crowd.
"Fried Piper?" she asked. "How di you get that name?" The Piper took off his hat to reveal frizzy hair.
"A few years ago I was struck by lightning." He tapped his skull. "I haven't quite been the same ever since. My brother says I'm a few guilders short of a payment so to speak."
"I see…" said the mayor's wife with disgust.
"Sir Piper, how exactly are going to get rid of the rats?" the mayor asked. The Fried Piper opened his sack and pulled out his instrument.
"Excuse me, but that is a clarinet you dimwitted man!" said the mayor's wife.
"I know," replied the Piper. He brought the clarinet to his lips and played the same squeaky noise they had heard before. The townspeople covered their ears and moaned. Finally the Piper stopped.
"That's it!" cried Willhelm. "I want the real Pied Piper!" The Fried Piper put down his clarinet.
"He couldn't be here. He had to go to Hameln. Apparently they are having the same trouble as you are."
"This is Hamelin!" yelled the mayor in frustration.
"No, this is Hamelin spelled H-A-M-E-L-I-N. My brother, the Pied Piper, went to Hameln spelled H-A-M-E-L-N." The piper explained. "I can do just as good as job as my brother, though. Go to your houses and open all the doors and windows. Hamelin will soon be free of rats!"
"I guess we have no other choice…" mumbled the townspeople as they walked back to their houses. When they got home the opened their doors and windows and plugged their ears with whatever they could find.
The Fried Piper walked down every street and alley, squeaking on his clarinet.
But instead of enchanting rats like his brother would do, he scared them all away. After every last rat was gone, the people once more assembled in the town square.
"Now for my favorite part of the story," said the Piper with a grin.
"You're favorite part?" asked the mayor's wife.
"Yes, my brother said this is where you refuse to pay me. Then I take all the children to Koëppen Hill." The Piper took out his clarinet and started to play. Once again the townspeople covered their ears. The mayor handed the Piper a large sack of gold.
"Here! Take the gold! Just stop playing that retched music!" he said quickly. The Piper stopped playing the clarinet and took the money. He was now a very rich man. The people of Hamelin lived happily ever after with all their children and no rats.