About five hundred years ago, a town called Hamelin, in North Germany was over-run with rats. The rats were so big that they used to fight the dogs and kill the cats and bite the babies in the cradles. At last, all the people came to the town hall to see the Mayor who was the chairman of the town. They begged him to do something to rid them of the rats. The next day, the Mayor held a meeting. A tall man in queer long coat from heel to head entered the hall. He went up to the table and said, "I can rid your town of rats, if you pay me thousand pieces of gold." "We shall be glad to give you much more than that, to be rid of the rats," said the Mayor.