em needs to shine!
But nothing does!--Nothing is daylight now.
Come, wife, we'll light the candles.

[Exit with his wife.

PETER the Cobbler
He's a changed man.

PETER the Sacristan
God help us, what's to do?
[Tumult approaching. Shouts of 'Jacobus' and 'Barbara.'
Hark!

HANS' WIFE
Neighbors!

HANS the Butcher
Hark! Hark!

[AXEL and his wife reenter hastily; AXEL rushes toward the noise.

AXEL'S WIFE
Oh, I hear something! Can it be--

PETER the Cobbler
They're shouting.

HANS the Butcher
My Iambs,--my lambs!

[AXEL reenters, crestfallen]

AXEL the Smith
'Tis naught--but Barbara
_His--his_!

[Shaking his fist at the house of Jacobus.

PETER the Cobbler
[calling]
Jacobus!

[The others are stricken with disappointment.

HANS the Butcher
Wife,--'t is none of ours.

AXEL the Smith
Let him snore on!--The only man would rather
Sleep late than meet his only child again!

PETER the Cobbler
[deprecatingly]
No man may parley with the gifts of Fortune!
[Knocking on the door]
Jacobus!

[Enter, at the rear, with a straggling crowd, BARBARA and MICHAEL,
both radiant and resolute. She wears the long green cloak over
her bridal array.

JACOBUS appears in his doorway, night-capped and fur-gowned,
shrinking from the hostile crowd. The people murmur.

CROWD
( Barbara!--She that was bewitched!
( And who's the man? Is it the Piper? No!
( No, no--some stranger. Barbara! Barbara's home;--
( He never gave her up!--Who is the man?

JACOBUS
My daughter! 'Tis my daughter,--found--restored!
Oh, heaven is with us!

ALL
[sullenly]
Ah!

JACOBUS
Child, where have you been?

ALL
Ay, where, Jacobus?
[He is dismayed.]

JACOBUS
Who is this man?--Come hither.

BARBARA
[without approaching him, lifting her face clearly]
Good-morning to you, father! We are wed.
Michael,--shall I go hither?
[The townsfolk are amazed.]

JACOBUS
She is mad!
She is quite mad,--my treasure.

PETER the Cobbler
Let her speak.
Maids sometimes marry, even in Hamelin.

ALL
( Ay, tell us!
( Who is he? Barbara?
( Art thou mad?--How came ye hither?

JACOBUS
Who is he?

BARBARA
Michael.

PETER the Cobbler
'Tis the Sword-Eater!
A friend o' the Piper's!--Hearken--

ALL
She's bewitched!

HANS' WIFE
This is the girl was vowed to Holy Church,
For us and for our children that are lost!

BARBARA
Ay, and did any have a mind to me,
When I was lost? Le