The Piper

The Piper is a play in four acts about the pied piper, who promised the villagers to rid them of their rats for money. When they do not follow up on the offer, he turns their children into a dark and terrible fate. Excerpt: «CHILDREN Oh, pipe again! Oh, pipe and make us dance! Oh, pipe and make us run away from school! Oh, pipe and make believe we are the mice! [He looks down at them. He looks up at the houses. Then he signs to them, with his finger on his lips; and begins, very softly, to pipe the Kinder spell. The old CLAUS and URSULA in the windows seem to doze.»