Pied Piper

A/N: I have also made this story into a narration, that you can see here: /Pprmh10n21g. It's scheduled for upload to Youtube on Saturday the 24th of December 2016.

I am raising money for the Against Malaria Foundation at the time I'm uploading this, and will be doing the same for other charities from mid-January 2017 onwards, so please offer your support! The more the above video is watched, the more money is raised. Furthermore, I am adding to my collection of monetized videos all the time, which means that you will have a better choice of stories to listen to while you're doing your bit to support a variety of charities!

...

Many hundreds of years ago there was a small village in Germany by the name of Hamelin. It was an unremarkable place in many respects, including in the fact that, just like every other small European village, it once became the unwilling home of a pandemic of plague-infested rats.

Everybody feared for their well-being when the rat population increased, and with it the risk of picking up the deadly disease. But nobody feared more so than the parents of Hamelin's one hundred and thirty children and the mayor, for they were responsible not only for their own safety, but for that of others who depended on them.

One evening, as the mayor once again watched the parents herding their children indoors instead of letting them stay out and play, he decided to take action. He sent for a professional rat-catcher and, after a certain number of false starts, invited an individual into the town who went by the pseudonym, 'Pied Piper'.

"You have quite a problem," said the Piper as the pair walked down the high street. There were more rats than people, and not only because the people had avoided leaving their homes to avoid the rats.

The mayor gritted his teeth with embarrassment at what his village had become. "Indeed," he agreed heavily. "How much to get rid of them?"

The Piper stopped and looked meaningfully at the mayor, and the mayor found himself pausing mid-stride to watch the strange man in the colourful clothes, the better to hear what he would say.

"One thousand guilders," the Piper told him levelly.

The mayor felt himself blanche. "...but that's extortionate!"

The Piper simply smiled.

"I heard of cheaper rat-catchers. I'll go with another. I'm sorry for wasting your time."

"It's a little over the going rate, that is true," pointed out the Piper, his tongue practiced as if he had delivered this speech many times before. "But you've seen the destruction that comes from having a plague-addled town, dear mayor. I offer a service to remove the rats single-handedly. Not just kill them and leave them to continue infecting your townspeople until somebody summons the courage to pick up the bodies and throw the maway, but take them out of the town myself. There will be no risk for you, nor to your people."

The mayor had to admit he had a point.

"So, mayor. Do we have a deal?"

The mayor held his breath for a moment, exhaled as he realised that this was his best option, and grasped the Piper's hand in a handshake before he could change his mind.

xXx

That night the mayor barely slept. Instead he lay as flat as a board, and watched a patch of moonlight shift across the ceiling as he wondered. He could not easily afford the Pied Piper's charge; not easily at all.

But there was more than money at stake: there were lives. If he did choose to wait for a cheaper rat-catcher, then that would undoubtedly be at the expense of the lives of several townspeople. If he stalled, then the blood of any further deaths would be on his hands. It was his duty to make the choice sooner rather than later. Also, the Piper was right: the rats' carcasses would need to be removed, and picking up the bodies might be just as dangerous as shooing away a live rat. Somebody in the town would no doubt volunteer for the task, he had little doubt about that, but it would be irresponsible of him to accept.