PIPER
And when I woke—
CHILDREN
You had—
PIPER
One hundred children!
CHILDREN
Oh, it came true! Oh, oh; it all came true!
THE STROLLERS Ah, ho, ho, ho! [The dumb one rises, stretches, and steals toward the entrance, stopping to slip a blind-patch over one eye. The PIPER goes to him with one stride, seizing him by the shoulder.
PIPER
[to him, and the others, apart]
Look you.—No Michael yet!—And he is gone
Full three days now,—three days. If he be caught,
Why then,—the little ravens shall be fed!
[Groans from the three]
Enough that Cheat-the-Devil leaked out too;—
No foot but mine shall quit this fox-hole now!
And you,—think praise for once, you have no tongue,
And keep these magpies quiet. [Turns away.
[To himself]
Ah, that girl.
The Burgomeister's Barbara! But for her,
And moon-struck Michael with his 'one more look'!
Where is he now?—And where are we?
[Turning back to the Children] So, so.
[The Strollers huddle together, with looks of renewed anxiety and wretchedness.—Their laughter at the Children breaks out forlornly now and then.—The PIPER shepherds the Children, but with watchful eyes and ears toward the entrance always. —His action grows more and more tense.
RUDI
[over his broth]
Oh, I remember now!—Before I woke. . .
Oh, what an awful dream!
ILSE
Oh, tell us, Rudi,—
Oh, scare us,—Rudi, scare us!—
RUDI [bursting into tears] . . . Lump was dead! Lump, Lump!— [The Children wail.