Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a village in Austria called 'Hamelin'. The city council had a rat problem...
One day along came a man with a magic flute. He called himself the Pied Piper. He offered up to the city council to get rid of ALL the rats in the village for 100 pieces of gold. The city council agreed thinking the Pied Piper could not pull off this magic trick...
The next morning, the Pied Piper played his magic flute and ALL the rats came out of hiding and followed him out of town. He led them to the nearby river where they all drowned.
The Pied Piper was a man of his word and held up his part of the bargain. That night he went to the city council to collect his gold. They were not honorable men and cheated him by only paying him 50 gold pieces. NO, the Pied Piper exclaimed! A deal is a deal!
The city council sent him on his way.
The next morning, the Pied Piper played his magic flute around town. Instead of the rats this time, ALL of the children in the village followed him out of town never to be seen again. It is rumored that the Pied Piper sold all the children of the Hamelin village into slavery...
And thus came the saying 'The Piper Must Be Paid'....
The End
-- Modified on 3/10/2021 12:46:02 AM