rats pulled out a whistle. As he started to whistle, rats were coming from all their hiding places and gathered around him. When he was sure that not a single rat was missing he started to leave the city and all rats followed. He made his way to the river Weser and stepped into the fast flowing water. The rats followed into the current and drowned.
After he had gotten rid of the nuisance of the rats the people of the city regretted to have agreed on the substantial payment. Using all kinds of excuses they refused to pay. The catcher of rats left angrily.
However, he returned. Some say at 7 am on June 26, others claim it was mid-day. Anyway, this time he came dressed like a hunter, with a grim face and a strange red hat. He went through the city lanes whistling like he had done for the rats. And, behold!, this time not rats came out of the houses but children, all children of age 4 or more, including the almost grown up daughter of the mayor of the city. The children followed him out of the city to a mountain and he made them disappear in the mountain in a miraculous way.
At least this is what one of the nannies reported that had followed with a small child on her arm, but had turned around and reported what had happened. Parents ran out of the city, searching for the children with grief in their hearts. Mothers moaned and cried. From now on messengers where send out on foot, on horses, on boats to all villages and cities nearby to find the children, or at least some of the 130 that had disappeared.
Some report that two children did return and not follow the others into the mountain. However, one of them was blind so could not point out the place of disappearance, the other one was dumb so was not forced by the whistling to follow all the way. Some mention a third child that returned to get something warmer to wear and thus escaped the catastrophe, since on returning the catcher of rats and the children had disappeared in hole in the mountain that afterwards was just visible as dent in the mountain and remains as such till today.