Der Rattenfänger von Hameln

My Friend Told Me About This And Translated It For Me.Thank's Man : )

A long time ago there was a terrible plague of rats and mice in the town of Hameln. Everything that got in the way of the animals was gnawed and eaten.

Hameln's citizens, and above all the mayor, were very happy when one day a man came to the city promising to free Hameln from this plague. The man was called Bundting because he wore such colorful clothes that immediately caught everyone's eye. Of course, the man did not want to do his service for nothing, but it was quickly agreed on a sum of money. Bundting should receive this if all mice and rats have been removed from the city.

And so it happened. As soon as the contract between the mayor and the rat-catcher was concluded, the man called himself, he took a small flute from his jacket pocket and played a beautiful melody on it. But as soon as he had struck the first note, the rats and mice came from all corners and corners and joined the rat catcher.

Now when he thought he had gathered all the animals, he went out with them out of the gate of the city, and went to the banks of the Weser, which flows through Hamelin, and took off his colorful garments. Then he descended into the river – and all the rats and mice followed him and drowned in the floods.

Now the rat-catcher returned to the city to collect his wages. But suddenly they didn't want to pay the Bundting any more and so he had to pull off unfinished business.

A few weeks later, however, the rat-catcher returned to Hameln. This time he came in the robe of a hunter, so that the people did not recognize him immediately. Again he pulled his little flute out of the jacket pocket and played the beautiful melody with which he had already lured the rodents from Hameln. But what was that! This time, the hunter with his flute was followed not by rats and mice, but by girls and boys.

All the children, who were older than four years, ran along in droves. The rat-catcher led them out of the city, to a mountain called Poppenberg, where he disappeared with them forever, even before anyone had noticed. Only two children, who had been a little late, were able to escape the rat catcher. But one child remained blind after the incident, so that he could no longer show the way, and the other became deaf, so that he could no longer report what had happened.

Only one nanny had observed the exodus of the girls and boys from the city and later reported it to everyone. Mothers and fathers, grandparents, aunts and uncles mourned very much for their lost children. For a long time in Hameln the street through which the children had passed with the rat catcher was called "bungeless" street (silent, toneless, drumless street). And even if a young bride was passing through this street on her wedding day, music was never allowed to be played there.