Fletnik z Hamelnu. The Pied Piper of Hamelin - ebook

III

Nakoniec bunt się wszczął. Lud szumi

I wali hurmem do ratusza.

– „Nasz burmistrz – krzyczą – okaz mumji,

Ławników niech kat powydusza!

Toż wstyd pomyśleć: im się daje

Strój lamowany w gronostaje,

A oni byle spać, hultaje!

Poodziewali futrem ciało,

Widać sumienie w nich stłuściało!

Gdy szczur się, jak bicz rozbizunia,

Dajcież na tego lek gryzunia,

Lub precz z urzędów, do pioruna!”

Tu Burmistrz i panowie Radni

Ze strachu jęli drżeć, bezradni.III.

At last the people in a body

To the town hall came flocking:

˝'Tis clear,˝ cried they, ˝our mayor's a noddy;

And as for our corporation–shocking

To think we buy gowns lined with ermine

For dolts that can't or won't determine

What's best to rid us of our vermin!

You hope, because you're old and obese,

To find in the furry civic robe ease?

Rouse up, sirs! Give your brains a racking

To find the remedy we're lacking,

Or, sure as fate, we'll send you packing!˝

At this the Mayor and Corporation

Quaked with a mighty consternation.IV.

An hour they sat in council;

At length the Mayor broke silence

˝For a guilder I'd my ermine gown sell;

I wish I were a mile hence!

It's easy to bid one rack one's brain–

I'm sure my poor head aches again,

I've scratched it so, and all in vain.

Oh for a trap, a trap, a trap!˝

Just as he said this, what should hap

At the chamber door but a gentle tap?

˝Bless us,˝ cried the Mayor, ˝what's that?˝

(With the Corporation as he sat

Looking little though wondrous fat;

Nor brighter was his eye, nor moister

Than a too-long-opened oyster,

Save when at noon his paunch grew mutinous

For a plate of turtle green and glutinous)

˝Only a scraping of shoes on the mat?

Anything like the sound of a rat

Makes my heart go pit-a-pat!˝