cried he , ` if you care about them , go and find them in the river . ' ` So , ' replied the Town Counsellor , ` you refuse to hold to the terms of your agreement ? We ourselves could refuse you all payment . But you have been of use to us , and we will not let you go without a recompense , ' and he offered him fifty crowns . ` Keep your recompense for yourself , ' replied the ratcatcher proudly . ` If you do not pay me I will be paid by your heirs . ' Thereupon he pulled his hat down over his eyes , went hastily out of the hall , and left the town without speaking to a soul . When the Hamel people heard how the affair had ended they rubbed their hands , and with no more scruple than their Town Counsellor , they laughed over the ratcatcher , who , they said , was caught in his own trap . But what made them laugh above all was his threat of getting himself paid by their heirs . Ha ! they wished that they only had such creditors for the rest of their lives . Next day , which was a Sunday , they all went gaily to church , thinking that after Mass they would at last be able to eat some good thing that the rats had not tasted before them . They never suspected the terrible surprise that awaited them on their return home . No children anywhere , they had all disappeared ! ` Our children ! where are our poor children ? ' was the cry that was soon heard in all the streets . Then through the east door of the town came three little boys , who cried and wept , and this is what they told : While the parents were at church a wonderful music had resounded . Soon all the little boys and all the little girls that had been left at home had gone out , attracted by the magic sounds , and had rushed to the great market-place . There they found the ratcatcher playing his bagpipes at the same spot as the evening before .
Then the stranger had begun to walk quickly , and they had followed , running , singing and dancing XXXXX the sound of the music , as far as the foot of the mountain which one sees on entering Hamel .
While about as by if of on than that to