As the darkness of the trees closed around him , Tashi heard the faint notes of the sweetest , most lovely melody . It was like Second Cousin ' s finest dark chocolate dissolved into air . It made his mouth water , his ears ache , his heart pump quickly . And his fears of the stranger came flooding back . Now he knew why he ' d been so uneasy about the piper . There was a story his grandmother once told him about a piper and a plague of rats . Tashi bent down and scooped up some clay to stuff into his ears . It was the hardest thing he ' d ever done . He closed his eyes as the sounds of the music and forest died away .