Der Rattenfänger [English translation]

Almost everyone knows what happened in Hameln, a thousand and one years ago,

how rats lived there, eating everything that was not made of iron.

At that time, after a long journey, I came to this town as a minstrel,

and when I entered the market place, the first thing I heard, was a herald shouting,

who, with the help of God or alone, would rescue the town from the rats,

would be paid a reward of one hundred Talers in gold by the town council.

I took my bundle, my flute and my lyre, and knocked on the town hall gate,

but as soon as they saw me, they slammed the door shut again and put the bolt in place.

And I heard that they told the councilors, there was a man at the gate,

torn and stinking, in colourful rags, with a ring in his ear.

This man now would let the councilors know, that he came from far, far away,

and he'd offer his help to the town, because he were a rat-catcher.

I waited a long time, then a voice shouted through the closed door,

„Kill the rats, and you will get the promised Talers!“

I went and blew my flute at night, only one single tone,

which was so high that only the rats could hear it, and none of them escaped.

Soon the whole squeaking brood followed me into the river Weser,

and then, in the morning, a hundred thousand cadavers floated in the water.

When the citizens of Hameln heard, what had happened during the night,

they danced in the streets, but nobody remembered me.

And when I stood at the town hall again and demanded my pay,

this time again they slammed the gate shut in my face, and mockingly told me,

only the devil could have supported my work,

so it would be only just, if I collected my hundred Talers from him.

But I stayed there and waited for hours in front of that house, until the evening came,

but the councilors, who were sitting inside, didn't dare to come out.

When the night fell, armed fellows approached, a dozen or more,

they hit me in the back with their spears and pushed me around the place.

Outside the town they set their dogs on me, and the beasts did not spare me.

They tore me down, and on top of that, they pissed on my bleeding face.

When the moon was shining, I mended my rags and washed my wounds in the river,

and cried with weakness and anger, until sleep closed my eyes.

But once more I went back to the town, and now I had a plan.

It was Sunday, the citizens were about to go to the church now.

Only the children and the elderly stayed alone this morning,

and my hope was, that the children would be more just than their fathers.

Beforehand I had covered my torn face with colourful paint,

and I had draped my vest with cock feathers, so that the holes could not be seen.

And I played and sang, and the children soon joined me from everywhere,

they indignantly listened to what I sang and never forgot it again.

And the children decided to help me and no longer to just watch,

where injustice happens, but to fight it together from now on.

And the children of Hameln kept their word and they installed a court,

pulled to light their fathers' malice and lies.

And they aroused dismay and shame in their parents,

and because he was ashamed, many a father beat his child almost crooked and lame.

But with every cruelty the courage of the children of the town grew,

and the helpless citizens brought the matter to the high council.

It happened what is still happening today, when silence is more important than justice,

for where the rulers demand silence, the ruled are off ill.

So they decided the expulsion of a whole generation.

The dirty action started in the night of the same day.

Bound and gagged, well guarded by their own fathers,

the children of Hameln secretly were brought out of town.

Now there was silence again in the town of Hameln, almost like in a tomb,

but infamy flourished, and the councilors hurriedly drew up a document.

It was added to the town chronicle, sealed by the sovereign,

and it said, that the children had been slain by the rat-catcher.

But the children of Hameln are not dead, only dispelled all over the world,

they also fathered children again, and they told them this story.

Even today, there are people who are still fighting for the rights of the weaker.

These people could be the heirs of the children of Hameln.

But still the lie prevails the truth in this world,

and as long as violence and fear hold the power in their hands,

for so long I can neither die, nor could I rest nor flee,

but as a minstrel and a rat-catcher I must keep on going,

because people still take injustice for a natural force.

And still today I stir up the children against that, again and again,

and still today I stir up the children against that, again and again.

• Artist:Hannes Wader
• Album:Der Rattenfänger (1974)