They come no more, for piping or for prayer;
Until the trump of the Lord Gabriel.
And if they came, 'tis not in Hamelin men
To alter any stone, so graven.--Marble
Is final. Marble has the last word, ever.
[Groans from the burghers.]
HANS the Butcher
O little Ilse!--Oh! and Lump--poor Lump!
More than a dog could bear!--More than a dog--
[They all break down. The Shoemaker consoles them.
PETER the Cobbler
Bear up, sweet neighbors.--We are all but dust.
No mice, no children.--Hem! And now Jacobus,--
His child, not even safe with Holy Church,
But lost and God knows where!
AXEL'S WIFE
Bewitched,--bewitched!
[Hans and his wife, arm in arm, turn left, towards their house,
peering ahead.
HANS' WIFE
Kind saints! Me out and gone to early mass,
And all this mortal church-time, there's a candle,
A candle burning in the casement there;--
Thou wasteful man!
HANS the Butcher
[huskily]
Come, come! Do not be chiding.
Suppose they came and could not see their way.
Suppose--O wife!--I thought they'd love the light!
I thought--
PETER the Cobbler
Ay, now! And there's another light
In Kurt the Syndic's house.
[They turn and look up. Other burghers join the group. All walk
lamely and look the picture of wretchedness.
AXEL'S WIFE
His wife, poor thing,
The priest is with her. Ay, for once, they say,
Kurt's bark is broken.
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