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hubert parry - the pied piper of hamelin lyrics

i
hamelin town’s in brunswick
by famous hanover city;
the river weser, deep and wide
washes its wall on the southern side
a pleasanter spot you never spied;
but when begins my ditty
almost five hundred years ago
to see the townsfolk suffer so
from vermin, what a pity!

ii
rats!
they fought the dogs and k!lled the cats
and bit the babies in the cradles
and ate the cheeses out of the vats
and l!cked the soup from the cook’s own ladles
split open the kegs of salted sprats
made nests inside men’s sunday hats
and even spoiled the women’s chats
by drowning their speaking
with shrieking and squeaking
in fifty different sharps and flats

iii
at last the people in a body
to the town hall came flocking:
“’tis clear,” cried they, “our mayor’s a noddy;
and as for our corporation—shocking
to think we buy gowns lined with ermine
for dolts that can’t or won’t determine
what’s best to rid us of our vermin!
rouse up, sirs! give your brains a racking
to find the remedy we’re lacking
or, sure as fate, we’ll send you packing!”
at this the mayor and corporation
quaked with a mighty consternation
iv
an hour they sat in council;
at length the mayor broke silence
“for a guilder i’d my ermine gown sell;
i wish i were a mile hence!
it’s easy to bid one rack one’s brain—
i’m sure my poor head aches again
i’ve scratched it so, and all in vain
oh for a trap, a trap, a trap!”
just as he said this, what should hap
at the chamber door but a gentle tap!
“bless us,” cried the mayor, “what’s that?”
(with the corporation as he sat
looking little though wondrous fat;
nor brighter was his eye, nor moister
than a too+long+opened oyster
save when at noon his paunch grew mutinous
for a plate of turtle green and glutinous)
“only a scr+ping of shoes on the mat
anything like the sound of a rat
slakes my heart go pit+a+pat!”

v
“come in!”—the mayor cried, looking bigger:
and in did come the strangest figure!
his queer long coat from heel to head
was half of yellow and half of red
and he himself was tall and thin
with sharp blue eyes, each like a pin
and light loose hair, yet swarthy skin
no tuft on cheek nor beard on chin
but lips where smiles went out and in;
there was no guessing his kith and kin:
and n0body could enough admire
the tall man and his quaint attire
quoth one: “it’s as my great+grandsire
starting up at the trump of doom’s tone
had walked this way from his painted tombstone!”
vi
he advanced to the council table:
and, “please your honors,” said he, “i’m able
by means of a secret charm, to draw
all creatures living beneath the sun
that creep or swim or fly or run
after me so as you never saw!
and i chiefly use my charm
on creatures that do people harm
the mole and toad and newt and viper;
and people call me the pied piper.”
(and here they noticed round his neck
a scarf of red and yellow stripe
to match with his coat of the selfsame check;
and at the scarf’s end hung a pipe;
and his fingers, they noticed, were ever straying
as if impatient to be playing
upon this pipe, as low it dangled
over his vesture so old+fangled.)
“yet,” said he, “poor piper as i am
in tartary i freed the cham
last june, from his huge swarms of gnats;
i eased in asia the nizam
of a monstrous brood of vampire bats:
and as for what your brain bewilders
if i can rid your town of rats
will you give me a thousand guilders?”
“one? fifty thousand!”—was the exclamation
of the astonished mayor and corporation
vii
into the street the piper stepped
smiling first a little smile
as if he knew what magic slept
in his quiet pipe the while;
then, like a musical adept
to blow the pipe his lips he wrinkled
and green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled
like a candle flame where salt is sprinkled;
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, g+y young friskers
fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins
c+cking tails and pr+cking whiskers
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!
—save one who, stout as julius caesar
swam across and lived to carry
to rat+land home his commentary:
which was, “at the first shrill notes of the pipe
i heard a sound as of scr+ping tripe
and putting apples, wondrous ripe
into a cider+press’s gripe:
and a moving away of pickle+tub+boards
and a leaving ajar of conserve+cupboards
and a drawing the corks of train+oil+flasks
and a breaking the hoops of b+tter+casks:
and it seemed as if a voice
(sweeter far than by harp or by psaltery
is breathed) called out, ‘oh rats, rejoice!
the world is grown to one vast drysaltery!
so munch on, crunch on, take your nunchion
breakfast, supper, dinner, luncheon!’
and just as a bulky sugar+puncheon
all ready staved, like a great sun shone
glorious scarce an inch before me
just as methought it said, ‘come, bore me!’
—i found the weser rolling o’er me.”

viii
you should have heard the hamelin people
ringing 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!”

ix
a thousand guilders! the mayor looked blue;
so did the corporation too
to pay this sum to a wandering fellow
with a gypsy 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
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:
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!”

xii
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 (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
and, like fowls in a farmyard 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 t++th like pearls
tripping and skipping, ran merrily after
the wonderful music with shouting and laughter

xiii
the mayor was dumb, and the council stood
as if they were changed into blocks of wood
unable to move a step, or cry
to the children merrily skipping by
—could only follow with the eye
that joyous crowd at the piper’s back
but how the mayor was on the rack
and the wretched council’s bosoms beat
as the piper turned from the high street
to where the weser rolled its waters
right in the way of their sons and daughters
however he turned from south to west
and to koppelberg hill his steps addressed
and after him the children pressed;
great was the joy in every breast
“he never can cross that mighty top!
he’s forced to let the piping drop
and we shall see our children stop!”
when, lo, as they reached the mountain side
a wonderous portal opened wide
as if a cavern was 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
did i say, all? no! one was lame
and could not dance the whole of the way;
and in after years, if you would blame
his sadness, he was used to say,—
“it’s dull in our town since my playmates left!
i can’t forget that i’m bereft
of all the pleasant sights they see
which the piper also promised me
for he led us, he said, to a joyous land
joining the town and just at hand
where waters gushed and fruit trees grew
and flowers put forth a fairer hue
and everything was strange and new;
the sparrows were brighter than peac+cks here
and their dogs outrun our fallow deer
and honeybees had lost their stings
and horses were born with eagles’ wings:
and just as i became assured
my lame foot would be speedily cured
the music stopped and i stood still
and found myself outside the hill
left alone against my will
to go now limping as before
and never hear of that country more!”

xiv
also, alas, for hamelin!
there came into many a burgher’s pate
a text which says that heaven’s gate
opes to the rich at as easy rate
as the needle’s eye takes a camel in!
the mayor sent east, west, north, and south
to offer the piper, by word of mouth
whatever it was men’s lot to find him
silver and gold to his heart’s content
if he’d only return the way he went
and bring the children behind him
but when they saw ’twas a lost endeavor
and piper and dancers were gone forever
they made a decree that lawyers never
should think their records dated duly
if, after the day of the month and year
these words did not as well appear
“and so long after what happened here
on the twenty+second of july
thirteen hundred and seventy+six:”
and the better in memory to fix
the place of the children’s last retreat
they called it the pied piper’s street
where any one playing on pipe or tabor
was sure for the future to lose his labor
nor suffered they hostelry or tavern
to shock with mirth a street so solemn;
but opposite the place of the cavern
they wrote the story on a column
and on the great church window painted
the same, to make the world acquainted
how their children were stolen away
and there it stands to this very day

- hubert parry lyrics

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