ts took a jump into the river yesterday,' said he to the
counsellors, 'and I guarantee that not one of them comes back. They were
nine hundred and ninety thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine, at one
gros a head. Reckon!'

'Let us reckon the heads first. One gros a head is one head the gros.
Where are the heads?'

The ratcatcher did not expect this treacherous stroke. He paled with
anger and his eyes flashed fire.

'The heads!' cried he, 'if you care about them, go and find them in the
river.'

'So,' replied the Town Counsellor, 'you refuse to hold to the terms of
your agreement? We ourselves could refuse you all payment. But you have
been of use to us, and we will not let you go without a recompense,' and
he offered him fifty crowns.

'Keep your recompense for yourself,' replied the ratcatcher proudly. 'If
you do not pay me I will be paid by your heirs.'

Thereupon he pulled his hat down over his eyes, went hastily out of the
hall, and left the town without speaking to a soul.

When the Hamel people heard how the affair had ended they rubbed their
hands, and with no more scruple than their Town Counsellor, they laughed
over the ratcatcher, who, they said, was caught in his own trap. But
what made them laugh above all was his threat of getting himself paid by
their heirs. Ha! they wished that they only had such creditors for the
rest of their lives.

Next day, which was a Sunday, they all went gaily to church, thinking
that after Mass they would at last be able to eat some good thing that
the rats had not tasted before them.

They never suspected the terrible surprise that awaited them on their
return home. No children anywhere, they had all disappeared!

'Our children! where are our poor children?' was the cry that was soon
heard in all the streets.

Then through the east door of the town came three little boys, who cried
and wept, and this is what they told:

While the parents were at church a wonderful music had resounded. Soon
all the little boys and all the little girls that had been left at home
had gone out, attracted by the magic sounds, and had rushed to the great
market-place. There they found the ratcatcher playing his bagpipes at
the same spot as the evening before. Then the stranger had begun to
walk quickly, and they had followed, running, singing and dancing to the
sound of the music, as far as the foot of the mountain which one sees on
entering Hamel. At their approach the mountain had op