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 I X 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.