Piper
You were the little gold-fish, none could catch. 
Oh, what a funny dream! . . .
[Apart, anxiously]
  No Michael yet.
[Aloud]
Come, bread and broth!  Here—­not all, three at a time;
’T is simpler.  Here, you kittens.  Eat awhile;
Then—­

[Rudi wakes.]

Rudi
Oh!  I had a dream,—­an awful dream!

[The piper takes Jan on his knee and feeds him, after ladling out a big bowl of broth from the kettle for the Children, and giving them bread.

Piper
Oh! oh!  I had a dream!

Children
  Oh, tell it to us!

Piper
I dreamed. . . a Stork. . . had nested in my hat.

Children
Oh!

Piper
And when I woke—­

Children
  You had—­

Piper
  One hundred children!

Children
Oh, it came true!  Oh, oh; it all came true!

The strollers
Ah, ho, ho, ho!
[The dumb one rises, stretches, and steals toward the entrance, stopping
to slip a blind-patch over one eye.  The piper goes to him with one stride,
seizing him by the shoulder.

Piper
[to him, and the others, apart]
Look you.—­No Michael yet!—­And he is gone
Full three days now,—­three days.  If he be caught,
Why then,—­the little ravens shall be fed!
[Groans from the three]
Enough that Cheat-the-Devil leaked out too;—­
No foot but mine shall quit this fox-hole now! 
And you,—­think praise for once, you have no tongue,
And keep these magpies quiet. [Turns away.
[To himself]
  Ah, that girl. 
The Burgomeister’s Barbara!  But for her,
And moon-struck Michael with his ‘one more look’! 
Where is he now?—­And where are we?
[Turning back to the Children] So, so.

[The Strollers huddle together, with looks of renewed anxiety and wretchedness.—­Their laughter at the Children breaks out forlornly now and then.—­The piper shepherds the Children, but with watchful eyes and ears toward the entrance always.  —­His action grows more and more tense.

Rudi
[over his broth]
Oh, I remember now!—­Before I woke. . . 
Oh, what an awful dream!

Ilse
Oh, tell us, Rudi,—­
Oh, scare us,—­Rudi, scare us!—­

Rudi
[bursting into tears]
  . . . Lump was dead! 
Lump, Lump!—­ [The Children wail.

Piper
[distracted]
Who’s Lump?

Rudi
  Our Dog!

Piper
[shocked and pained]
  The Dog!—­No, no. 
Heaven save us—­I forgot about the dogs!

Rudi
He Wanted me;—­and I always wasn’t there! 
And people tied him up,—­and other people
Pretended that he bit.—­He never bites! 
He Wanted me, until it broke his heart,
And he was dead!