This is another picture book from the Books from the Bairns series (No. 87). It presents two stories. Most of the book is reserved for The Piper of Hamelin, an adaptation of a famous ballad by Robert Browning. The last part gives us a poem from the famous and then still very popular Ingoldsby Legends, written by Richard Harris Barham.
All illustrations are done by Brinsley Le Fanu.
Hamelin is a real place. It's a town in Germany and according to their archives something terrible really happened in the 14th century. Nobody knows what. We can only guess...
Hamelin was infested with rats. They were everywhere.
Even rich and influential people couldn't get rid of them
Inhabitants of Hamelin were sick of them. They demanded some action.
City council had no idea what to do.
They were just feeling sorry for themselves.
Then a strange man appeared. It was a pied piper. He offered his services.
He was willing to take care of the rats. For proper payment of course.
He had a magic flute and knew how to use it to convince different living creatures to follow his song. Wouldn't be nice if he convince the rats to follow him out of the town?
The mayor was impressed. Yes, he could definitely hire piper's services!
The agreement was made and piper went to streets. He had a job.
The melody of his pipe attracted all the rats and they followed his pipe wherever he went. There were thousands and thousands of nasty rodents looking like being entranced, going after the music of the magic pipe.
When the piper came to the river, rats followed him in the water, being drown one by one. None has stayed in the town of Hamelin.
People of Hamelin were delighted. They finally get rid of the rats!
Bu then the mayor and other important men decided to skip the payment. Piper already did what they wanted. Why should they give him any money? The rats were gone. What can he do?
Pied piper was angry. He returned to the streets of Hamelin. He played another song. This time there were no rats to follow his hypnotic tune. Instead of the rodents children went after him.
Hundreds of kids followed the piper who traveled the streets of of Hamelin.
Their parents, the cheating citizens of Hamelin could not stop them.
Children went after the piper. Somewhere out of town they disappeared. Some said they followed the piper to the crack in a rock. Nobody knows for sure.
Only three kids, all handicapped, stayed in the city. The ratless and childless city of Hamelin.
Nobody ever saw the kids who went after the piper.
They learned they should pay the piper. But it was too late.
Thee are many theories about the disappearance of the kids of Hamelin. But nobody knows what really happened.
We can just hope we won't repeat their mistake...
Let's switch to the poem about Jackdaw of Rheims!
There was a cardinal with a beautiful ring. And there was a jackdaw who especially liked it.
One day, after lunch, when cardinal put the ring off to wash his hands, the ring vanished.
Servants and monks searched everywhere yet they couldn't find the ring.
Cardinal was enraged. He cursed the thief with an exquisite series of curses.
Soon after, the jackdaw was found. The bird was in very poor shape. It looked like it was going to die very soon.
In jackdaw's nest the cardinal's ring lied. The mystery was solved.
Cardinal got his ring back and jackdaw's health improved tremendously. Cardinal and the bird befriended each other. They said the jackdaw croaked each time when somebody tried to lie to the cardinal what gave the man competitive advantage in all kinds of talks and negotiations.
Years later, when the bird died, it was proclaimed as a saint - Jack Crow.
