illions of years ago in the Land of Tomorrow and the Next Day there was a town, a tiny town, that might ^have been bonny and bright, but it was sorrowed and sore with a night that stretched through its days. The night was a sadness and a black shadow made of many shades, a gloom cast by the presence of monsters. . Food was snatched from the fork. Bed was impossible. The people of the town spent much time burn- ing incense and muttering magic incantations, but the magic seemed to work badly. The plague of demons grew worse. Beating on pans did no good. An age old remedy for the horrors it was, but now no good. hung about in the trees and in the eaves. Some were gob- lins, short ones and fat, tall ones with a hungry look. Some were fiends with smoking hair and scaly hands, greedy lips and gritty smiles. There were smirking spiders and flat, round dragons, like pancakes, filling the fields. Great greasy toads sat in the doorways, trading maggots and swapping flies. The market was a snarl of snakes and nameless nidderings. r Mighty speeches by men of These strong words caused the government and stern proclatn- people to quake and children ations by the Mayor against slumbering fitfully on their the slithering horde were mothers’ shoulders woke scream- listened to by the people. ing and with, the hiccups. But not a round- eyed monster blinked. en one morning when the sun shone everywhere else, a fluting was heard along the ridge. Such goblins as had ears pricked them up and stopped chewing. ine people of the town, tumbling over toads, rushed from their houses and looked to the hills. L Uown the mountain road, picking seemed to lift him over the gloom, his way between the flopping black The shadows seemed to part, things, there stepped a piper. His Children with old tears still wet, notes looped and soared and laughed and clapped their hands. Straight to the Mayor he strode. He The Mayor, combing lizards from flourished the pipe from his lips and his beard, replied, "We know!' bowed . “Greetings, sir, ”he cried. "You "I shall take them awau for should be rid of these dragons .” you, "declared the Piper. A wombat leaped from beneath the Mayor’s coat. The poor man shook a nest of salamanders out of his pocket and sighed, "How?" If you do, "grunted the weary Mayor, "You can name your own priced Jjhe Piper ejected a small beast that had burrowed into his pipe. He eyed the Mayor sternly. My price is a promise . ” ‘Name ///’shouted the Mayor, stamping fiercely at a small band of scorpions. “Once the town, is bonny and then, you’ll keep it that way. gay... once it is fresh with air The Piper stood poised, his and clean with the sunlight... pipe before his lips. “£)one!”roared the Mayor. "A ridiculous promise! Of course we will do it. . . We want it that way. . V He tore off his trousers and pursued a small dinosaur that had been up his pant leg. “Of course well do it!' (ii2)ith that the Piper leaped in the air cracked his heels together twice and a half, and blew a blinding note, the shrillest of shrill. Alighting,he set off at a crooked trot. He screeched bro- ken notes and square notes, bouncing jagged notes and wriggling notes that twisted like eels. Wailing high as the wind, flatting low as a funeral drum.the pipe sobbed and screamed. The people shut their eyes and stuffed their ears. This was worse than the monsters! But then, the air around seemed to lighten. The children looked about them wide eyed. The goblins were leaving! y the people gasped a mighty the crawling, slippery scuttling gasp. . .There, vanishing toward things. They were following the the rim of the world in the Pipers manic tune. Soon they faraway west were the flying were gone and a bright peace things, the scampering things, was on the town. ]N|pw the people ol the town sat down to enjoy the sunshine of their door- ways. They endlessly discussed the strange Piper. Some described him as tall like a thundercloud. . .some said no, he was more like a tree, a flaming tree. Others remembered that he was mounted on a plunging white stallion, and still others talked of the terrible sword he carried. Qthey were all agreed that he was tered the elders with heavy head magic, a supernatural magician, shaking, was a thing that defied And what, asked the children, description and which children was the tune he played? That,mut- would not understand anyway So the elders warned the children to be quiet and to be good. Walk just so, they said, and talk just so. . .and do not ask questions for which there are no answers because no one wants the plague to return. The old people sat in the doorways gossiping about the Piper and shush- ing the children. They haggled in the market place and wished the curse of the Piper upon those who traded with a sharper eye. And all this made the elders very care- ful, and very solemn, for none of them wanted the return of the plague. They wanted the town to remain bonny and gay. . .They were quite determined to watch everyone very closely. Children who laughed too much or asked too many questions were plainly becoming mons- ters, the people said, and such, children were whipped soundly and sent to bed with the threat that the fiery Piper would come for them. tQ)hen, at last, the town had become a place of tiptoes and shushes and the people were fear- or thinking bad thoughts, it was noticed that the town seemed darker. Oftien one day, when it had grown quite dark, a stranger wandered into town. He picked his way be- tween the gossiping women in the market,he stepped over the sloth- ful, suspicious folk in the door ways. He watched the sternfaced old men stamping away the chil- dren from their benches in the pale and seldom sunlight. v lhe stranger stepped up to the looked as if it were about to Mayor, who stood on the Town laugh at a butterfly The Mayor Hall steps. The Mayor was watch- gripped his stick tightly and set ing a child closely. The child his jaw. The stranger coughed. It is the fault of the children, the solemn elders agree&fThey are careless of the Piper’s word. He warned us to be careful” So all the children in town were spanked three times a day before meals, and shaken well, into the bar- gain, on Sunday. Nobody wanted the children to grow into demons or monsters or even small fiends. ‘We should do away with those “The town has the chill of night butterflies” Tasked the Mayor, again" said the stranger. “Have They cause trouble .” the monsters returned?" these children '." He sighed and shook his head. gested the stranger. He stepped ing, dancing notes that seemed into the street and from beneath to lighten the sky. Children his cloakhe took a pipe. Setting leaped and came running. If the butterfly heard, it gave no sign but fluttered raggedly off toward the lands that held the morning and left the edge of the world where night seemed to be settling, for good. It was the Piper again.This time the music glided and sang, laughed and soared. With lilting step the Piper danced off to the east, off toward the sunrise. And this time the children, laugh- ing with the notes of the pipe, followed, even as the demons had before them. Soon they were gone. “He's done it again, murmured the old Mayor, “for it was the Piper He’s saved us a second time! The old man frowned at the butterfly. “Be quiet, ”\ve cried, shaking his stick /ie/ that be a warning to you.