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 that 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 . When the people of Hamel heard of the bargain , they too exclaimed : ' A gros a head ! but this will cost us a deal of money ! ' ` Leave it to the Town Counsellor , ' said the town council with a malicious air . And the good people of Hamel repeated with their counsellors , ` Leave it to the Town Counsellor . ' Towards nine at night the bagpiper re-appeared on the market place . He turned , as at first , his back to the church , and the moment the moon rose on the horizon , ` Trarira , trari ! ' the bagpipes resounded . It was first a slow , caressing sound , then more and more lively and urgent , and so sonorous and piercing that it penetrated as far as the farthest alleys and retreats of the town .
Soon from the bottom XXXXX the cellars , the top of the garrets , from under all the furniture , from all the nooks and corners of the houses , out come the rats , search for the door , fling themselves into the street , and trip , trip , trip , begin to run in file towards the front of the town hall , so squeezed together that they covered the pavement like the waves of flooded torrent .
Before Towards as at if in of on that to