The Ratcatcher: A Lyrical SatireThe Ratcatcher retells the legend of the German town of Hamlin, which in the year 1284 was so badly overrun by rats that the Burgomaster promised a large sum of money (and his daughter's hand in marriage) to anyone who could remove them. A colorfully dressed wandering piper lured all the rats away and drowned them in a nearby river. When the reward was refused him, he returned to the town and lured away all the children (and the Burgomaster's adult daughter), disappearing with them into the side of a mountain. |
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Contents
Acknowledgements | 8 |
Note on the Translation | 29 |
The Dreams | 42 |
The Abduction | 60 |
In the Town Hall | 80 |
The Childrens Paradise | 99 |
Notes | 113 |
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Common terms and phrases
Alexander Blok anapaestic bashlyk Beggars bles Blok Blok's blue Boris Pasternak boys Browning's burghers Burgomaster Burgomaster's button Canto catcher Children's Paradise Ciepiela Councillors Critic D.S. Mirsky daughter Devil dreams drowned edited Elaine Feinstein emigre English essays Etkind everything eyes feet flute Further Reading German girls Goethe Goethe's going Greta Hameln Hamlin Town head hear Heaven Heine Heine's Hindustan India Irina Ratushinskaya Karl Simrock Krysolov legend letters Light of Conscience lines listen live Lord lyrical Marina Tsvetaeva means metres Moscow musician nightingale Old Rat Pavel Antokolsky Pied Piper poema poet poetry Prague praise proza published Pugachov Rainer Maria Rilke Ratcatcher Rattenfanger Revolution rhymes rhythm Rilke Russian literature satire Simrock sleep song soul sound Soviet squeal stanzas stop syllables taeva There's things translated Tsve Tsvetaeva wrote tune verse voice wandering What's White Army writing Wrong Zuviel ist ungesund