The Pied Piper said, “I freed the town of Hamelin of rats, and the mayor promised to pay me a thousand guilders. He would not pay the money, when the time came, so I took his children, and all the other children of the village.”
The dwarf stamped his foot again, and shouted, “What do you intend to do with all these children?”
The Pied Piper did not answer. He only played a merry tune.
“They shall not stay here!” shouted the dwarf. Then he went into the next room, where his brothers were at work.
The dwarfs in this room were starting young plants, and they tended the roots of trees to make them grow.
The dwarf stamped his foot and shouted to his brothers:
“The Pied Piper has brought in a whole villageful of children. I will not keep them all. I can never feed so many!”
One funny dwarf answered him. He was a queer fellow, as broad as he was long.
This dwarf laid his finger on the side of his nose and asked:
“Why not change the children into fairies and let them live in the trunks of the trees?”