Josephine Preston Peabody

“ BARBARA appears, pale and beautiful;—richly dressed in white, with flowing locks. She is wan and exhausted.—The dance-mania, as it seizes her, makes her circle slowly and dazedly with a certain pitiful silliness. The nuns and monks accompanying her point in horror. But they, too, dance off with each other, willy-nilly,—like leaves in a tempest. BARBARA is left alone, still circling slowly. The piping sounds softer. She staggers against a tree, and keeps on waving her hands and turning her head, vaguely, in time.
MICHAEL looks forth from the well; then climbs out and approaches her. ”

“ The PIPER sounds a few notes; then lifts his hand and listens, smiling.—Uproar in the distance.—A great harking of dogs;—shouts and cheers; then the high, sweet voices of the Children.
The piping is drowned in cries of joy. The sun comes out, still rosy, in a flood of light. The crowd rushes in. Fat burghers hug each other, and laugh and cry. They are all younger, their faces bloom, as by a miracle.
The Children pour in. Some are carried, some run hand-in-hand. Everywhere women embrace their own. KURT has his sons.—CHEAT-THE-DEVIL comes, with a daisy-chain around his neck, all smiles. ”

“ Hearken.—You, Michael, on to Rudersheim—
MICHAEL
And leave her here? No, no!
PIPER
Then take the girl.
BARBARA
To Rudersheim? No, never, never!
PIPER
Well . . .
Hearken.—There is the hermit, over the hill.
[Apart, wildly]
But how—suppose she will not marry him?
I will not take her where the children are.
And yet—
[An idea strikes him. To her]
Hark, now;—hark, now, and tell me truly;
Can you spin cloth?
BARBARA [amazed] I? Spin?
PIPER [eagerly] Can you make shoes? ”

“ There is not one
Old huddler-by-the-fire would shift his seat
To a cold corner, if it might bring back
All of the Children in one shower of light!
VERONIKA
The old, ah, yes! But not—
PIPER
The younger men?
Aha! Their pride to keep the name alive;
The name, the name, the little Hamelin name,
Tied to the trade;—carved plain upon his gravestone!
Wonderful! If your name must chain you, live,
To your gaol of a house, your trade you love not,—why,
Best go without a name, like me!—How now?
Woman,—you suffer? ”

“ CHEAT-THE-DEVIL
No, growling,—growling dreary psalms
All on a sunny day! Behind the hedges,
I saw them go. They go from Hamelin, now;
And I know why!—
[The PIPER beckons him away from the Children.
The mayor's Barbara
Must go to Rudersheim, to be a Nun!
PIPER
To be a Nun!
CHEAT-THE-DEVIL
A penance for them all.
She weeps; but she must go! All they, you see,
Are wroth against him.—He must give his child—
PIPER
A nun!
CHEAT-THE-DEVIL
[nodding]
Forever!—She, who smiled at Michael.
Look you, she weeps! They are bad people all;—
Nothing like these. ”

“ One nurses a lame knee; one, evidently dumb, talks in signs to the others; one is munching bread and cheese out of a wallet. All have the look of hunted and hungry men. They speak only in whispers to each other throughout the scene; but their hoarse laughter breaks out now and then over the bird-like ignorance of the children.
A shaft of sunlight steals through the hole in the roof. ”

“ BARBARA [disappointed] Only well-water?
PIPER Love is only Love. It must be philters, then? [He comes down smiling and beckons to MICHAEL, who draws near, bewildered. This lady thirsts For magic! [He ties a long green scarf that he has over his shoulder, to a water-jar, and lowers it down the old well; while BARBARA watches, awe-struck. He continues to sing softly. Mind your eyes, Tune your tongue; Let it never he said, But sung,—but sung!—
MICHAEL
[to BARBARA, timidly]
I am glad at least, fair lady,
To think how my poor show did give you pleasure
That day—that day when ”

“ Shouts of delight greet the end of the show, a Noah's Ark miracle-play of the rudest; and the Children continue to scream with joy whenever an Animal looks out of the Ark.
Men and women pay scant attention either to JACOBUS, when he speaks (himself none too sober) —from his doorstep, prompted by the frowning KURT,—or yet to ANSELM, the priest, who stands forth with lifted hands, at the close of the miracle-play. ”

“ Enter ANSELM the priest, with a little acolyte,—the two bearing a large illuminated Gospel-book. ANSELM, eyeing the PIPER gravely, opens the book, which the boy supports on his head and shoulders.
PIPER
Ho, 't is too heavy! Come, you cherub-head,
Here's too much laid upon one guardian angel!
[Beckons another small boy, and sets the book on their two backs.
Well?—well? What now?
[He looks in frank bewilderment at the eager crowd.
CROWD
Read, read!
KURT
He cannot read.
PIPER
[to ANSELM]
Turn—turn—there's nothing there.
[ANSELM turns pages. PIPER looks on blankly]
. . . ”

“ PIPER
Because his deviltry is all a cheat:—
He is no devil,—but a gentle heart!
—Friend Michael here hath played the Devil, betimes,
Because he can so bravely breathe out fire.
He plied the pitchfork so we yelped for mercy,—
He reckoned not the stoutness of his arm!—
But Cheat-the-Devil here,—he would not hurt
Why—Kurt the Syndic—thrusting him in hell.
[Laughter.
CHEAT-THE-DEVIL [unhappily] No, no—I will not hurt him!
PIPER
[soothingly to him]
Merry, boy!
[To the townsfolk]
And,—if ye will have reasons, good,—ye see,—
I want—one thousand guilders. ”

“ The music whirls them irresistibly into a rhythmic pace of 3/4 time, and jogs their words, when they try to speak, into the same dance-measure. One by one,—two and two they go,—round and round like corks at first, with every sign of struggle and protest, then off, on the long road to Rudersheim. ”

“ He looks down at them. He looks up at the houses. Then he signs to them, with his finger on his lips; and begins, very softly, to pipe the Kinder-spell. The old CLAUS and URSULA in the windows seem to doze.
The children stop first, and look at him, fascinated; then they laugh, drowsily, and creep closer,—JAN always near. They crowd around him. He pipes louder, moving backwards, slowly, with magical gestures, towards the little by-streets and the closed doors. The doors open, everywhere. ”

“ He lets down a water-jar into the well again. The nearness of the hell startles him. He becomes watchful as a wild creature. It sounds nearer and nearer. A woman's voice calls like the wind: 'Jan! Jan!'— The PIPER, tense and cautious, moves softly down into the shrubbery by the well. ”

“ Three days of rest, your worships, you have had.
I see no signs of famine hereabout.
The rats are gone, even to the nethermost tail:
And I've fulfilled my bargain. Is it granted?
[Murmurs, then cheers of "Ay, Ay, PIPER!" from the crowd.
Thank 'ee.—My thousand guilders, an you please.
JACOBUS
One thou—Come, come! This was no sober bargain.—
No man in reason could—
PIPER
One thousand guilders.
KURT
One thousand rogueries!
JACOBUS [to PIPER] You jest too far.
AXEL
Lucky, if he get aught!—Two hundred traps,
And nine, and thirty! By Saint Willibald,
When was I paid? ”

“ PIPER
[to himself]
'T is Hans the Butcher.
[To the Children]
Well, what did he say?
HANSEL 'Come home, come home, come home!' But I didn't go. I don't know where. . . Oh, what a funny dream!
ILSE
Mine was a bad dream!—Mine was a lovely lady
And she was by the river, staring in.
PIPER
You were the little gold-fish, none could catch.
Oh, what a funny dream! . . .
[Apart, anxiously]
No Michael yet.
[Aloud]
Come, bread and broth! Here—not all, three at a time;
'T is simpler. Here, you kittens. Eat awhile;
Then—
[RUDI wakes.] ”

“ Out come the children: little ones in night gowns; bigger ones, with playthings, toy animals, dolls. He pipes, gayer and louder. They pour in, right and left. Motion and music fill the air. The PIPER lifts JAN to his shoulder (dropping the little crutch) and marches off, up the street at the rear, piping, in the midst of them all. ”

“ MICHAEL watches, with jealous wistfulness, from the road (left rear) .—BARBARA half fearfully sits up, on the bank by the well.
BARBARA
Not love? And yet . . . you do not want my pearls?
Then why—
PIPER
For why should all be love or money?
Money! Oho,—that mouldy thousand guilders
You think of!—But it was your Hamelin friends
That loved the guilders, and not I. ”

“ Some of the burghers hasten out after this fresh excitement. JACOBUS is cowed. BARBARA and MICHAEL are startled. The shouts turn savage. The uproar grows. Shouts of 'Ay, there be is! We have him! We have him! ”

“ The Cross-ways: on the Long Road to Rudersheim. A wooded country: high hills at back. The place is wild and overgrown, like the haunted spot it is reputed to be. In the foreground, right, a ruined stone well appears, in a mass of weeds and vines. Opposite, left, tall trees and dense thickets. Where the roads cross (to left of centre) , stands a large, neglected shrine, with a weather-worn figure of Christ,—again the 'Lonely Man'—facing towards Hamelin.—The stage is empty, at rise of the curtain; but the sound of chanting from burghers just gone by fades slowly, on the road to Rudersheim. ”

“ Oh, when you smiled, It was—it was like sunlight coming through Some window there, [Pointing to the Minster] —some vision of Our Lady. [She drops her flowers.—He picks them up and gives them back slowly.
BARBARA
Who are you? You are some one in disguise.
MICHAEL [bitterly] A man—that passes for a mountebank. ”

“ Hamelin market-place. It is early morning; so dark that only a bleak twilight glimmers in the square; the little streets are dim. Everywhere gloom and stillness. In the house of KURT, beside the Minster, there is one window-light behind a curtain in the second story. ”

“ Like fire-flies! Will-o'-the-wisps!
And make believe we're hiding, all the way,
Till we come out into a sunny land,—
All vines and sunlight, yes, and men that sing!
Far, far away—forever.
[Gives ILSE a bowl to feed the other children]
[JAN pipes a measure of the Kinder-spell, brokenly. The PIPER turns.
So! Thou'lt be
My master, some day. Thou shalt pipe for me.
JAN [piping] Oh, wasn't that one beautiful?—Now you! ”

“ The Strollers huddle together, with looks of renewed anxiety and wretchedness.—Their laughter at the Children breaks out forlornly now and then.—The PIPER shepherds the Children, but with watchful eyes and ears toward the entrance always. —His action grows more and more tense. ”

“ In Hamelin, here, so honest of his word.
Stroller! A pretty choice you leave us.—Quit
This strolling life, or stroll into a cage!
What do you offer him? A man eats fire—
Swords, glass, young April frogs—
CHILDREN
Do it again!
Do it again!
PIPER
You say to such a man,—
'Come be a monk! A weaver!' Pretty choice.
Here's Cheat-the-Devil, now. ”

“ PIPER
Woman, you could!—They know not how to be
Happy! They turn to darkness and to woe
All that is made for joy. They deal with men
As, far across the mountains, in the south,
Men trap a singing thrush, put out his eyes,—
And cage him up and bid him then to sing—
Sing before God that made him,—yes, to sing!
* * * * *
I save the children.—Yes, I save them, so,
Save them forever, who shall save the world!—
Yes, even Hamelin.—
But for only you,
What do they know of Children?—Pfui, their own!
Who knows a treasure, when it is his own?
Do they not whine: 'Five mouths around the table ”

“ The Strange Man, with his piping;
[They cross themselves]
And they went,—
And never came again.
HANS' WIFE
But they may come!
PETER the Cobbler
[pityingly]
Marble is final, woman;—nay, poor soul!
When once a man be buried, and over him
The stone doth say Hic Jacet, or Here Lies,
When did that man get up?—There is the stone.
They come no more, for piping or for prayer;
Until the trump of the Lord Gabriel.
And if they came, 'tis not in Hamelin men
To alter any stone, so graven.—Marble
Is final. Marble has the last word, ever.
[Groans from the burghers.] ”

“ It is part cavern and part cellarage of a ruined, burned-down and forgotten old monastery in the hills.—The only entrance (at the centre rear) , a ramshackle wooden door, closes against a flight of rocky steps.—Light comes from an opening in the roof, and from the right, where a faggot-fire glows under an iron pot.—The scene reaches (right and left) into dim corners, where sleeping children lie curled up together like kittens. ”

“ How did Saint Willibald prevail with the rats?—
That would I like to know. I, who ha' made
Of strong wrought traps, two hundred, thirty-nine,
Two hundred, thirty-nine.
REYNARD [calling] And so would I!
HANS the Butcher
So please your worships, may it please the Crier,
Now we be here,—to cry the Piping Man—
PETER the Cobbler
A stranger-man, gay-clad,—in divers colors!
Because he, with said piping—
HANS the Butcher
—Drave away
The horde of rats!
PETER the Cobbler
[sagely]
To our great benefit;
And we be all just men. ”

“ Little white cats! . . . He wears a golden collar . . .
And sometimes— [Aside] —I'd forgot about the dogs!
Well, dogs must suffer, so that men grow wise.
'T was ever so.
[He turns to give JAN a piping lesson]
CHILDREN Oh, what a funny dream!
[Suddenly he lifts his hand. They listen, and hear a dim sound of distant
chanting, going by on some neighboring road. The PIPER is puzzled; the
Strollers are plainly depressed.
JAN
What is it?
PIPER
People; passing down below,
In the dark valley.
[He looks at the Children fixedly]
Do you want to see them? ”