The Piper | Page 6

sworn For her
sake and for all, that I will have Some justice, all so late, for wretched
men, Out of these same smug towns that drive us forth After the
show!--Or scheme to cage us up Out of the sunlight; like a squirrel's
heart Torn out and drying in the market-place. My mother! Do you
know what mothers are?-- Your children! Do you know them? Ah, not
you! There's not one here but it would follow me, For all your bleating!
AXEL'S WIFE Kuno, come away!
[The children cling to him. He smiles down triumphantly.
PIPER Oho, Oho! Look you?--You preach--I pipe! [Reenter the men,
with KURT and JACOBUS, from the Rathaus, murmuring dubiously.
[The PIPER sets down JAN and stands forth, smiling.
JACOBUS [smoothly] H'm! My good man, we have faithfully debated
Whether your vision of so great a sum Might be fulfilled,--as by some
miracle. But no. The moneys we administer Will not allow it; nor the
common weal. Therefore, for your late service, here you have Full
fifteen guilders, [Holding forth a purse] and a pretty sum Indeed, for
piping!
KURT [ominously] Take them!
JACOBUS Either that, Or, to speak truly, nothing! [The PIPER is
motionless] Come, come. Nay, count them, if you will.
KURT Time goes!
PIPER Ay. And your oath?
KURT No more; Enough.
[There is a sound of organ music from the Minster.]

VERONIKA [beseechingly] Ah, Kurt!
KURT [savagely to the crowd] What do ye, mewling of this fellow's
rights? He hath none!--Wit ye well, he is a stroller, A wastrel, and the
shadow of a man! Ye waste the day and dally with the law. Such have
no rights; not in their life nor body! We are in no wise bound. Nothing
is his. He may not carry arms; nor have redress For any harm that men
should put on him, Saving to strike a shadow on the wall! He is a
Nothing, by the statute-book; And, by the book, so let him live or die,
Like to a masterless dog!
[The PIPER stands motionless with head up-raised, not looking at
KURT. The people, half-cowed, half-doubting, murmur and draw back.
Lights appear in the Minster; the music continues. KURT and
JACOBUS lead in the people. JACOBUS picks up the money-purse
and takes it with him.
VOICES [laughing, drunkenly] One thousand guilders to a 'masterless
dog'! [Others laugh too, pass by, with pity and derision for the PIPER,
and echoes of 'MASTERLESS DOG!' Exeunt WOMEN and MEN to
the Minster. Only the children are left, dancing round the motionless
figure of the PIPER.
CHILDREN Oh, pipe again! Oh, pipe and make us dance! Oh, pipe and
make us run away from school! Oh, pipe and make believe we are the
mice!
[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.
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.
Last, out of the Minster come tumbling two little acolytes in red, and

after them, PETER the Sacristan. He trips over them in his amazement
and terror; and they are gone after the vanishing children before the
church-people come out.
The old folks lean from their windows.
OLD URSULA The bell, the bell! the church bell! They're bewitched!
[Peter rushes to the bell-rope and pulls it. The bell sounds heavily.
Reenter, from the church, the citizens by twos and threes and scores.
OLD URSULA I told ye all,--I told ye!--Devils' bargains! [The bell]
[KURT, JACOBUS, and the others appear.]
KURT Peter the Sacristan! Give by the bell. What means this clangor?
PETER the Sacristan They're bewitched! bewitched! [Still pulling and
shouting.]
URSULA They're gone!
KURT Thy wits!
OLD CLAUS They're gone--they're gone--they're gone!
PETER the Sacristan The children!
URSULA --With the Piper! They're bewitched! I told ye so.
OLD CLAUS --I saw it with these eyes! He piped away the children.
[Horror in the crowd. They bring out lanterns and candles.
VERONIKA holds up the forgotten crutch'
VERONIKA Jan--my Jan!
KURT [to her] Thy boy! But mine, my three, all fair and straight.--
AXEL'S WIFE [furiously to him] 'T was