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Show 60 The hair will grow long and unkempt and the clothes will become torn and dirty. In a year I won't look any different than I did before he came. Unless...I clenched my fists thinking about it...unless he takes me with him when he goes away- Because I knew that he would go away again. Gast in Hamelin town was like King Rudolf's crown on the trash midden - they didn't belong. When I joined Gast the square had already filled with people. Grown men and older boys were dragging logs, broken troughs, old wagon wheels and thick brush to the center of Market Square, piling them to build a bonfire which would be lighted after dark. Mayor Gruelhot and the councilmen had gathered together in one comer of the square, looking pompous in front of the crowd, from time to time putting their heads together to talk furtively. Father Johann stood apart from the council, smiling absent-mindedly. When Gast took my arm and led me toward the center of the square, the priest signaled to someone in the doorway of Market Church. A moment later the bells began to peal and all the people in the square cheered. After the bells had stopped, Mayor Gruelhot spoke up in his deep, booming voice, his golden chain rising and falling on his chest. "Dear citizens," he said, "I have been your mayor through good times and bad. I must add, in all humility, that under my direction Hamelin has had more good times than bad." A murmur arose from the crowd, but whether it was of agreement or disagreement I couldn't tell. "A few weeks ago," he went on, "one of the bad times, we were bothered by a plague of rats. I worried day and night and searched |