He was a great gawky fellow , dry and bronzed , with a crooked nose , a long rat-tail moustache , two great yellow piercing and mocking eyes , under a large felt hat set off by a scarlet cock 's feather . He was dressed in a green jacket with a leather belt and red breeches , and on his feet were sandals fastened by thongs passed round his legs in the gipsy fashion . That is how he may be seen to this day , painted on a window of the cathedral of Hamel . He stopped on the great market-place before the town hall , turned his back on the church and went on with his music , singing : ` Who lives shall see : This is he , The ratcatcher . ' The town council had just assembled to consider once more this plague of Egypt , from which no one could save the town . The stranger sent word to the counsellors that , if they would make it worth his while , he would rid them of all their rats before night , down to the very last . ` Then he is a sorcerer ! ' cried the citizens with one voice ; ` we must beware of him . ' The Town Counsellor , who was considered clever , reassured them . He said : ` Sorcerer or no , if this bagpiper speaks the truth , it was he who sent us this horrible vermin that he wants to rid us of to-day for money . Well , we must learn to catch the devil in his own snares . You leave it to me . ' ` Leave it to the Town Counsellor , ' said the citizens one to another . And the stranger was brought before them . ` Before night , ' said he , ' I shall have despatched all the rats in Hamel if you will but pay me a gros a head . ' ' A gros a head ! ' cried the citizens , ` but that will come to millions of florins ! ' The Town Counsellor simply shrugged his shoulders and said to the stranger : ' A bargain ! To work ; the rats will be paid one gros a head as you ask . ' The bagpiper announced that he would operate that very evening when the moon rose .
He added XXXXX the inhabitants should at that hour leave the streets free , and content themselves with looking out of their windows at what was passing , and that it would be a pleasant spectacle .
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