ISBN: 9781153629836

Excerpt: ... I love to read tales about rats. They make my flesh creep so. I like that tale of Bishop Hatto and the rats. The wicked bishop, you know, had ever so much corn stored in his … More...

Excerpt: ... I love to read tales about rats. They make my flesh creep so. I like that tale of Bishop Hatto and the rats. The wicked bishop, you know, had ever so much corn stored in his granaries and would not let the starving people touch it, but when they prayed to him for food gathered them together in his barn, and then shutting the doors on them, set fire to the place and burned them all to death. But next day there came thousands upon thousands of rats, sent to do judgment on him. Then Bishop Hatto fled to his strong tower that stood in the middle of the Rhine, and barred himself in and fancied he was safe. But the rats! they swam the river, they gnawed their way through the thick stone walls, and ate him alive where he sat. They have whetted their teeth against the stones, And now they pick the bishop''s bones; They gnawed the flesh from every limb, For they were sent to do judgment on him. Oh, it''s a lovely tale. Then there is the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, how first he piped the rats away, and afterward, when the mayor broke faith with him, drew all the children along with him and went into the mountain. What a curious old legend that is! I wonder what it means, or has it any meaning at all? There seems something strange and deep lying hid beneath the rippling rhyme. It haunts me, that picture of the quaint, mysterious old piper piping through Hamelin''s narrow streets, and the children following with dancing feet and thoughtful, eager faces. The old folks try to stay them, but the children pay no heed. They hear the weird, witched music and must follow. The games are left unfinished and the playthings drop from their careless hands. They know not whither they are hastening. The mystic music calls to them, and they follow, heedless and unasking where. It stirs and vibrates in their hearts and other sounds grow faint. So they wander through Pied Piper Street away from Hamelin town. I get thinking sometimes if the Pied Piper is really dead, or... Jerome Klapka Jerome, Books, History, Idle Thoughts Of An Idle Fellow Books>History, General Books LLC<

ISBN: 9781153629836

Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow ab 17.49 EURO Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow ab 17.49 EURO Bücher > Belletristik > Comics & Satire, [PU: General Books, LLC]

2013, ISBN: 1153629836

Kartoniert / Broschiert HUMOR / Form / Essays, mit Schutzumschlag neu, [PU:Books LLC, Reference Series]

ISBN: 9781153629836

Livre, [PU: General Books, LLC]