the green one says.— [A burst of laughter from the crowd. JAN, the little lame boy on the steps, reaches his arms out suddenly and gives a cry of delight.

JAN
Oh, I love the Man!

[He goes, with his crutch, to the PIPER, who turns and gathers him close.

JACOBUS [to the People] Leave off this argument.

KURT
  Go in to Mass.

JACOBUS
Saint Willibald!

PIPER [in a rage] That Saint!—

KURT
Hence, wandering dog!

PIPER
Oho!—Well, every Saint may have his day.
But there are dog-days coming.—Eh, your worship?
[To ANSELM, suddenly]
You, there! You—Brother—Father—Uncle—You!
Speak! Will you let them in, to say their prayers
And mock me through their fingers?—Tell these men
To settle it, among their mouldy pockets,
Whether they keep their oath. Then will I go.

KURT [savagely] Away with you!—

ANSELM
  The Piper should be heard;
Ye know it well. Render to Caesar, therefore,
That which is Caesar's.

PIPER
  —Give the Devil his due!

JACOBUS [warily] We must take counsel over such a sum.

[Beckoning others, he and KURT go into the Rathaus, followed by all the men. Exit ANSELM with the Holy Book into the Minster.—The children play Mouse, to and fro, round about the PIPER.—The women, some of them, spin on the doorsteps, with little hand distaff's, or stand about, gossiping.

[The PIPER wipes his forehead and goes up slowly (centre) to drink from the fountain at the foot of the Shrine.—MICHAEL, like one in a dream, comes down towards BARBARA, who gazes back at him, fascinated, through her laughter.

BARBARA
Is it for pay you loiter, Master Player?
Were you not paid enough?

MICHAEL
  No.—One more look.

BARBARA
Here, then.—Still not enough?

MICHAEL

No! One more smile.

BARBARA [agitated ] Why would you have me smile?

MICHAEL [passionately] Oh, when you smiled, It was—it was like sunlight coming through Some window there, [Pointing to the Minster] —some vision of Our Lady. [She drops her flowers.—He picks them up and gives them back slowly.

BARBARA
Who are you? You are some one in disguise.

MICHAEL [bitterly] A man—that passes for a mountebank.

BARBARA [eagerly] I knew!

MICHAEL
  What then?

BARBARA
Thou art of noble birth.
'T is some disguise, this playing with the fire!

MICHAEL
Yes.—For to-day, I lord it with the fire.
But it hath burned me, here.
[Touching his breast.]
[Overcome for the moment, she draws away.—
The PIPER, coming down, speaks stealthily to MICHAEL,
who is still gazing.

PIPER
  For all our sakes!
There is bad weather breeding.—Take to thy heels.

[BARBARA turns back to see MICHAEL withdrawing reluctantly, and throws a rose to him with sudden gayety.

BARBARA
Farewell to you, Sword-Swallower!—farewell!

MICHAEL [looking back] Farewell to you, my Lady, in-the-Moon. [Exit. [JAN clings once more to the PIPER, while the other children hang about. VERONIKA calls to her boy, from the steps.

VERONIKA
Darling.—

PIPER [drawing nearer] Is this your Boy?

VERONIKA
  Ay, he is mine;
My only one. He loved thy piping so.

PIPER
And I loved his.

HANS' WIFE [stridently] Poor little boy! He's lame!

PIPER
'T is all of us are lame! But he, he flies.

VERONIKA
Jan, stay here if you will, and hear the pipe,
At Church-time.

PIPER [to him] Wilt thou?

JAN
[softly]
  Mother lets me stay
Here with the Lonely Man.

PIPER
  The Lonely Man?
[JAN points to the Christ in the Shrine. VERONIKA crosses herself.
The PIPER looks long at the little boy.

VERONIKA
He always calls Him so.

PIPER
  And so would I.

VERONIKA
It grieves him that the Head is always bowed,
And stricken. But he loves more to be here
Than yonder in the church.

PIPER
  And so do I.

VERONIKA
What would you, darling, with the Lonely Man?
What do you wait to see?

JAN [shyly] To see Him smile.

[The women murmur. The PIPER comes down further to speak to VERONIKA.

PIPER
You are some foreign woman. Are you not?
Never from Hamelin!

VERONIKA
  No.

AXEL'S WIFE
[to her child]
  Then run along.
And ask the Piper if he'll play again
The tune that charmed the rats.

ANOTHER
  They might come back!

OLD URSULA
[calling from her window]
Piper! I want the tune that charmed the rats!
If they come back, I'll have my grandson play it.

PIPER
I pipe but for the children.

ILSE
[dropping her doll and picking it up]
  Oh, do pipe
Something for Fridolin!

HANSEL
  Oh, pipe at me!
Now I'm a mouse! I'll eat you up! Rr—rr!—

CHILDREN
Oh, pipe! Oh, play! Oh, play and make us dance!
Oh, play, and make us run away from school!

PIPER
Why, what are these?

CHILDREN
[scampering round him]
  We're mice, we're mice, we're mice! . . .
We're mice, we're mice! We'll eat up everything!

MARTIN'S WIFE [calling] 'T is church-time. La, what will the neighbors say?

ILSE
[Waving her doll]
Oh, please do play something for Fridolin!

AXEL'S WIFE
Do hear the child. She's quite the little mother!

PIPER
A little mother? Ugh! How horrible.
That fairy thing, that princess,—no, that Child!
A little mother?
[To her]
  Drop the ugly thing!

MARTIN'S WIFE
Now, on my word! and what's amiss with mothers?
Are mothers horrible?
[The PIPER is struck with painful memories.]

PIPER
  No, no. But—care
And want and pain and age. . .
[Turns back to them with a bitter change of voice]
  And penny-wealth,—
And penny-counting.—Penny prides and fears—
Of what the neighbors say the neighbors say!—

MARTIN'S WIFE
And were you born without a mother, then?

ALL
Yes, you there! Ah, I told you! He's no man.
He's of the devil.

MARTIN'S WIFE
  Who was your mother, then?

PIPER
[fiercely]
Mine!—Nay, I do not know. For when I saw her,
She was a thing so trodden, lost and sad,
I cannot think that she was ever young,
Save in the cherishing voice.—She was a stroller;
My father was a stroller.—So, you have it!
And since she clave to him, and hunger