Hello, I'm Tim. The story I'm going to tell you is one of broken promises and revenge.
How a town, saved from a terrible plague of rats by a mysterious stranger,
refuses to pay up and so pays a heavy price.
Hamelin was a peaceful town on the banks of a wide, deep river.
People were wealthy and life was comfortable.
For some, like the mayor, it was too comfortable.
He grew greedy on the town's profits and neglected his duties.
Bins overflowed in the streets and alleyways as rubbish wasn't collected.
People were so busy making money.
that they didn't pay much attention until one day the rats arrived.
They came out of the gutters and sewers in droves.
They were huge and black with red bulging eyes, and there were hundreds of them everywhere.
They scurried across the pavements, swarmed through the gardens, and then they entered the houses.
Do something, the people asked the mayor,
but he was a bit stupid as well as greedy and didn't have any ideas.
He was in a meeting at the town hall when suddenly the door was flung open and a young girl strode in.
Her velvet jacket was threadbare and covered in patches.
Around her neck she wore a pipe.
I can help you, she said in a strange accent.
Everyone looked at her astonished.