authorities than the mayor of Neisse pursuing, under similar circumstances, in our own days. Nay, so far did he carry his resentment, that he caused Master Wilibald to be indicted for practising arts of sorcery, and finally averred that he was the identical piper of Hameln who had already done so much mischief in that ill-starred town.
Great was the commotion produced in Neisse by the approaching trial; with their natural dread of necromancy, and the fate of the young Hamellians before their eyes, the justiciary officers were at work day and night; already the chamberlain calculated the expense of the faggots,—the bell toller craved a new rope,—the carpenter erected scaffolds for the spectators,—and the gentlemen of the law began to rehearse their various parts in the approaching judicial drama; but Master Wilibald was as active as any of them; at first he laughed outright at all the bustle and preparation which he understood was going forward, and now in the most spiteful manner, after all was nearly ready for his high and solemn trial, what did he do but stretched himself out upon his straw pallet and most unhandsomely gave up the ghost!
However a short time before he fairly quitted the world, he sent for his dear Wido, and thus addressed him: “Young man, you now see that according to your way of going about things I can give you no assistance. Indeed I am quite tired of your stupid mode of thinking and acting. You have now learnt—or at least ought to have done so—that the goodness of human nature, which some people talk so much about, is a very deceitful thing, and not at all to be trusted to in any matter of the slightest moment. Indeed, for my own part, I could not rely one moment on your fulfilment of the last request I am about to make you, were I not aware that your own interest is so much mixed up with the matter that self-love will induce you to attend to it. When I am dead, be careful to see that my old bagpipe is buried with me. To keep it would do you no service; to bury it with me may be the means of doing you infinite pleasure.” Wido promised to
