The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pied Piper of Hamelin, by Robert Browning

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Title: The Pied Piper of Hamelin

Author: Robert Browning

Illustrator: Kate Greenaway

Release Date: May 8, 2006 [EBook #18343]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN ***

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THE PIED PIPER

OF

HAMELIN

THE PIED PIPER

OF

HAMELIN

BY

ROBERT BROWNING

ILLUSTRATED BY

KATE GREENAWAY

LONDON

FREDERICK WARNE AND CO., LTD.

AND NEW YORK

Printed in U.S.A.

THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN

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, was a pity.

II.

Rats!
They fought the dogs and killed the cats,
And bit the babies in the cradles,
And ate the cheeses out of the vats.
And licked 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!
You hope, because you're old and obese,
To find in the furry civic robe ease?
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 sate in council,
At length the Mayor broke silence: