1829- The Story of the Pied Piper as Recounted by Mila, a Gypsy Girl, to Soldiers on

their Way to Paris shortly before the Massacre of Huguenots in Paris in Chronique du

Rgne de Charles IX by Prosper Mrime.

Mila le repoussa doucement, car la bouche de Mergy touchait presque sa joue ; et,

aprs avoir jet droite et gauche un regard furtif pour s'assurer que tout le monde

l'coutait, elle commena de la sorte :Capitaine, vous avez t sans doute Hameln

Jamais.Et vous, cornette ?Ni moi non plus. Comment ! ne trouverai-je personne qui

ait t Hameln ? J'y ai pass un an, dit un cavalier en s'avanant.Eh bien ! Fritz, tu

as vu l'glise de Hameln ? Plus de cent fois. Et ses vitraux coloris? Certainement.

Et qu'as-tu vu peint sur ces vitraux ?Sur ces vitraux ?- la fentre gauche, je crois

qu'il y a un grand homme noir qui joue de la flte, et des petits enfants qui courent

aprs lui

Justement. Eh bien, je vais vous conter l'histoire de cet homme noir et de ces enfants

Il y a bien des annes, les gens de Hameln furent tourments par une multitude

innombrable de rats qui venaient du Nord, par troupes si paisses que la terre en

tait toute noire, et qu'un charretier n'aurait pas os faire traverser ses chevaux un

chemin o ces animaux dfilaient. Tout tait dvor en moins de rien ; et, dans une

grange, c'tait une moindre affaire pour ces rats de manger un tonneau de bl que ce

n'est pour moi de boire un verre de ce bon vin. Elle but, s'essuya la bouche et

continua. Souricires, ratires, piges, poison taient inutiles. On avait fait venir de

Bremen un bateau charg de onze cents chats ; mais rien n'y faisait. Pour mille qu'on

en tuait, il en revenait dix mille, et plus affams que les premiers. Bref, s'il n'tait

venu remde ce flau, pas un grain de bl ne ft rest dans Hameln, et tous les

habitants seraient morts de faim.

Voil qu'un certain vendredi se prsente devant le bourgmestre de la ville un grand

homme, basan, sec, grands yeux, bouche fendue jusqu'aux oreilles, habill d'un

pourpoint rouge, avec un chapeau pointu, de grandes culottes garnies de rubans, des

bas gris et des souliers avec des rosettes couleur de feu. Il avait un petit sac de peau

au ct. Il me semble que je le vois encore. Tous les yeux se tournrent

involontairement vers la muraille sur laquelle Mila fixait ses regards Vous l'avez

donc vu ? demanda Mergy, Non pas moi, mais ma grand-mre ; et elle se souvenait

si bien de sa figure qu'elle aurait pu faire son portrait. Et que dit-il au bourgmestre ?

Il lui offrit, moyennant cent ducats, de dlivrer la ville du flau qui la dsolait. Vous

pensez bien que le bourgmestre et les bourgeois y toprent d'abord. Aussitt

l'tranger tira de son sac une flte de bronze ; et, s'tant plant sur la place du

march, devant l'glise, mais en lui tournant le dos, notez bien, il commena jouer

un air trange, et tel que jamais flteur allemand n'en a jou. Voil qu'en entendant

cet air, de tous les greniers, de tous les trous de murs, de dessous les chevrons et les

tuiles des toits, rats et souris, par centaines, par milliers, accoururent lui.

L'tranger, toujours fltant, s'achemina vers le Weser ; et l, ayant tir ses chausses,

il entra dans l'eau suivi de tous les rats de Hameln, qui furent aussitt noys. Il n'en

restait plus qu'un seul dans toute la ville, et vous allez voir pourquoi. Le magicien,

car c'en tait un, demanda un tranard, qui n'tait pas encore entr dans le Weser,

pourquoi Klauss, le rat blanc, n'tait pas encore venu. - Seigneur, rpondit le rat, il

est si vieux qu'il ne peut plus marcher. Va donc le chercher toi-mme, rpondit le

magician

Et le rat de rebrousser chemin vers la ville, d'o il ne tarda pas revenir avec un

vieux gros rat blanc, si vieux, si vieux, qu'il ne pouvait pas se traner. Les deux rats,

le plus jeune tirant le vieux par la queue, entrrent tous les deux dans le Weser, et se

noyrent comme leurs camarades. Ainsi la ville en fut purge. Mais, quand

l'tranger se prsenta l'htel de ville pour toucher la rcompense promise, le

bourgmestre et les bourgeois, rflchissant qu'ils n'avaient plus rien craindre des

rats, et s'imaginant qu'ils auraient bon march d'un homme sans protecteurs, n'eurent

pas honte de lui offrir dix ducats, au lieu des cent qu'ils avaient promis. L'tranger

rclama : on le renvoya bien loin. Il menaa alors de se faire payer plus cher s'ils ne

maintenaient leur march au pied de la lettre. Les bourgeois firent de grands clats

de rire cette menace, et le mirent la porte de l'htel de ville, l'appelant beau

preneur de rats ! injure que rptrent les enfants de la ville en le suivant par les rues

jusqu' la Porte-Neuve. Le vendredi suivant, l'heure de midi, l'tranger reparut sur

la place du march, mais cette fois avec un chapeau de couleur de pourpre, retrouss

d'une faon toute bizarre. Il tira de son sac une flte bien diffrente de la premire

et, ds qu'il eut commenc d'en jouer, tous les garons de la ville, depuis six jusqu'

quinze ans, le suivirent et sortirent de la ville avec lui. Et les habitants de Hameln les

laissrent emmener ? demandrent la fois Mergy et le capitaine. Ils les suivirent

jusqu' la montagne de Koppenberg, auprs d'une caverne qui est maintenant

bouche. Le joueur de flte entra dans la caverne et tous les enfants avec lui. On

entendit quelque temps le son de la flte ; il diminua peu peu ; enfin l'on n'entendit

plus rien. Les enfants avaient disparu, et depuis lors on n'en eut jamais de nouvelles.

La bohmienne s'arrta pour observer sur les traits de ses auditeurs l'effet produit par

son rcit.Le retre qui avait t Hameln prit la parole et dit

- Cette histoire est si vraie que, lorsqu'on parle Hameln de quelque vnement

extraordinaire, on dit : Cela est arriv vingt ans, dix ans, aprs la sortie de nos

enfants- le seigneur de Falkenstein pilla notre ville soixante ans aprs la sortie de

nos enfants. Mais le plus curieux, dit Mila, c'est que dans le mme temps parurent,

bien loin de l, en Transylvanie, certains enfants qui parlaient bon allemand, et qui

ne pouvaient dire d'o ils venaient. Ils se marirent dans le pays, apprirent leur

langue leurs enfants, d'o il vient que jusqu' ce jour on parle allemand en

Transylvanie.

- Et ce sont les enfants de Hameln que le diable a transports l ? dit Mergy en

souriant.

- J'atteste le ciel que cela est vrai ! s'cria le capitaine, car j'ai t en Transylvanie, et

je sais bien qu'on y parle allemand, tandis que tout autour on parle un baragouin

infernal. L'attestation du capitaine valait bien des preuves comme il y en a tant.

- Voulez-vous que je vous dise votre bonne aventure ? - demanda Mila Mergy.

English Rendition:

Mila gently pushed him, as the mouth of Mergy almost touched her cheek; and, after

throwing a furtive glance to left and right to ensure that everyone was listening, she began

thus:

- Captain, you have probably been to Hameln.

- Never.

- And what about you, Cornet?

- Neither have I.

.-What! I won't find a soul who has been to Hameln ?

- I spent a year there a cavalry rider said, coming forward

-Well ! Fritz , you saw the church of Hameln then?

- More than a hundred times I did.

- And its stained-glass windows?

- Certainly.

- And what did you see painted on the windows?

- On these windows? - At the window to the left, I believe there is a large black man who

plays the flute, and small children running after him.

- Precisely. Well, I will tell you the story about the black man and these children.

- Many years ago the people of Hameln were being tormented by a vast multitude of rats

that had come up from the north, with such a teeming density that the earth turned pitch

black with them so that no carter would have dared to drive his horses across a path where

these animals passed by in a huge column. Everything got eaten up in no time; and in a barn

it took these rats less time to eat a ton of wheat than for me to drink a glass of this wine.

She took a sip, wiped her mouth and continued.

- Mousetraps, rat traps , traps, poison, all to no avail. From Bremen they brought a boatload

of eleven hundred cats; but nothing did any good. For every one thousand killed, ten

thousand new rats took their place, even hungrier than the first lot. In short, if no solutions

were found, not a grain of wheat would have remained in Hameln, and all the

inhabitants would have starved.

.Here one Friday who should appear in the presence of the mayor of the city but a large

man, swarthy, parched looking, grinning from ear to ear? He was wearing a red doublet

with a pointed hat, big breeches trimmed with ribbons, grey stockings and shoes with

flame-colored rosettes. He had a small leather bag to his side. It's so vivid as if I still see

him before my very eyes.

All eyes turned involuntarily to the wall on which Mila fixed her eyes

- You've seen him? asked Mergy

- Not me personally, but my grandmother once did; and she remembered his face so well

that she could have drawn his portrait. And what did he say to the mayor? For the sum of a

hundred ducats he offered to deliver the city from the scourge which was ruining it. You

can imagine that the mayor and the citizens there were dumbfounded to begin with.

Immediately the stranger drew from his bag a bronze flute; and, having taken position on

the market square in front of the church, but turning his back, mark my words he started

playing a strange looking instrument producing a sound that no German Magpie has ever

sung. On hearing this tune, from all the granaries, from all the holes in walls, below the

rafters and roof tile, rats and mice in their hundreds and thousands flocked towards him.

The stranger, still piping, made his way towards the Weser; and there, having taken off his

shoes, he entered the water followed by all the rats of Hamelin, whereupon they

immediately drowned. There was only one of them left in the whole city, and you'll see

why. The magician, for there is no other way to describe him, asked a straggler who had not

yet entered the Weser:

- Klaus, why hasn't that white rat come along yet?

- Lord, said the rat, he is too old for.walking.

So go and fetch him yourself, replied the magician.

So the rat went back to the city from where he soon returned bringing along a big old white

rat with him. So old. so old was he that he could not drag himself along. The two rats, the

younger pulling the old one by the tail, both went into the Weser and were drowned just like

their kindred. Thus the city was well served. But when the stranger showed up at City Hall

to claim the reward promised by the mayor and the citizens, they, n the belief that they had

nothing more to fear from the rats and that they could get away with shortchanging a man

without anyone to protect him, were not abashed to offer him ten ducats instead of the

hundred they had promised. The stranger retorted. He had been repulsed too far and then

threatened to secure himself a higher payment should they not keep to their side of the

bargain to the last tittle. The townsfolk burst out laughing at this threat, and showed him to

the door of the town hall, calling him a fine rat catcher indeed! The insult was echoed by

the children of the city in the streets next to the New Gate.

On the following Friday at noon, the stranger appeared once more in the market place , but

this time with a hat of purple colour rolled in a very strange way . He first produced from

his bag a very different flute and as soon as he began to play, all the boys of the city, from

six to fifteen years of age, followed him out of the city.

And the people of Hameln let them go asked both Mergy and captain.

They followed him up the mountain of Koppenberg to a cave that is now blocked. The Pied

Piper entered the cave and all the children with him. For some time the sound of the flute

could be still heard and then; gradually it faded till at last nothing more was to be heard.

The children had disappeared, and have never been seen again from that day. The gypsy

stopped to observe the facial expressions of her listeners to judge the effect produced by the

recounting of her story. The trooper who had been to Hameln answered and said

- This story is so true that when anyone talks about some extraordinary event in Hamelin,

the response is always: This or that event happened twenty years, ten years, whatever, after

the departure of our children - the lord of Falkenstein plundered our city sixty years after

the departure of our children. But the most curious thing of all, said Mila, is that at the same

period of time in far-away Transylvania, some children appeared who spoke good German,

and could not tell where they had come from. They married in the country and taught their

language to their children, with the effect that to this day there are those who speak German

in Transylvania.

- And these are the children of Hamelin that the Devil Hameln transported there? Mergy

said with a smile on her face.

- I swear to heaven that all this is true! cried the captain , because I was in Transylvania, and

I know for a fact that there are those who speak German, while all around they talk in some

infernal gibberish.

This vindication of the captain was a valuable piece of evidence like so many others that .-

Do you want me to tell you your fortune ? Mila asked Mergy .

Comment:

Here we find a literary rendition of the legend rather than a documentary source. However,

whether by intuition on erudition, the author retells the story in a manner fully consistent

with certain traditions we have noted. The tale poses an evil omen that foreshadows the

massacre of the Huguenots in the Seine, whose fate resembles that of the rats in the Weser.

Clearly the author follows precedents that identify the Piper with the Devil. Strangely

enough, the story, however negatively, is associated with a saint's day (the day of Saint

Bartholomew). The sources had assigned the day of the Piper's final appearance to either

the day of John and Paul. or that of Mary Magdalene (see above). The story refers to a

precise year in history, i.e. in 1572 (cf. 1284, 1376).. The earliest versions of the legend

point to the tragic fate of those flouting the authority of the Church, and in the strict

judgment of Roman Catholic teaching, the Huguenots were "heretics."

It is quite possible, even probable, that a knowledge of this passage influenced Robert

Browning when composing "The Pied Piper of Hamelin". In this the Piper wears a"Gypsy

coat of red and yellow.". The rat "as fat as Julius Caesar" finds a possible precursor in the

fat rat in Mila's story ,which almost escapes drowning but is pulled into the Weser by its

tail. In the context of Chronique this rat poses an allusion to the leader of the Huguenots,

Admiral Gaspard de Coligny. Alone among those who have recounted the story of the Pied

Piper, the author burdens the children of Hamelin with the guilt of complicity in their

parents' insults and bad treatment of the Piper. A parallel case might be found in the

punishment of the children who made fun of Elisha in the Bible.