4 A
long time ago there was a town called Hamelin in
Germany. It was a wealthy town, and everyone' ate well. .
But then there was a plague of rats. No one knew where the
rats had come from. They
up and down
every street and in and out of every house. Soon the rats
every scrap of food in the town. No one had
any idea how to get rid of them.
One day a stranger
He said he was a
rat-catcher called the Pied Piper. The people of Hamelin
promised to give him as much gold as he wanted if he could get
rid of the rats.
The Pied Piper walked along the streets. He
a special pipe with him, and he played a tune that no one
before. Rats came out of every corner of the