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Show 116 Chapter 17 By the next day it was decided that all the children should gather in the Market Square that afternoon. Gast would play for them and the children would be urged to dance, to see whether dancing could drive the illness out of them. I was included, because I looked so wretched from fear and worry that everyone believed I was ill, too. When the children came together they were a pitiful lot. Their eyes were huge and shadowed from lack of sleep and their faces looked pale and hollow. As usual, Mayor Gruelhot had to make a speech for the people assembled. "Distinguished citizens, I have consulted with my council to learn what can be done to bring our children back to health," he announced. Instead of booming as it usually did, his voice sounded cracked and hoarse. "Councilman Senewolte tells me that almost fifty years ago in Erfurt, a similar plague struck one hundred children who had ailments very much like the ones our children have now. Those Erfurt children sang and danced, and after a time some of them were healed." "What about the others?" Helmut Lothe called out. Mayor Gruelhot's voice dropped so low that it could only be heard by the people next to him. "Some of the others.. .died." Then his voice rose again as he shouted, "Gast said that in Bohemia, dancing made the children feel better in a plague such as this. So we will begin the dance. Play, Gast! Dance, children!" Mayor Gruelhot backed through the crowd and sat down heavily on the steps of Market Church. |