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Show 38 "Father Johann said a mass for me early this morning, and I was supposed to be there. I feel bad that I missed it." "Forget about it," Gast said. "It's of no importance. I absolve you for missing your mass." "How can you absolve me, when you are not a priest? You're not even a Christian, you said. What are you, Gast?" "We can talk about that another time," he answered. "Come now, let us take this ugly pig meat and throw it around the streets. The dogs and cats won't touch it because it is too salty, but rats will eat anything." They ate it, as if it were a special Christmas treat spread out for them. They swarmed over it, and fought each other with their sharp teeth to tear off the biggest pieces, even though there was more than enough salt pork for all of them. It was a disgusting sight to see their shiny black bodies swell, and to hear their squeals as they tore at one another. They slithered out of all the dark corners in Hamelin, as though a message had been sent from one to the other that there was no need to search for food - it was there waiting for them. While we were throwing out the pieces of pork, Dietrich and Damien, Gerta, Maria, Ulrich, and some of the other children who had danced to Gast's piping came to ask if they could help too. "Geist and I will do this part of it," he told them, "but there is another way in which you can help me. Go to all of the children in Hamelin, the ones between the ages of three and fourteen, and tell |