Semi-weekly south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1883-1889, 1886-06-04
RATS AND MICE.



Legends and Nursery Rhymes.
Rats and mice have figured in fable
and legend and nursery rhymes quite as
frequently as the larger members of the
animal Kingdom Every one is familiar
with the legend which furnishes the
basis of Brownings fine poem, "rhe
Pied Piper Of Hamelin.' In these stories
rats and mice generally play the part OF
avengers. The legend of hatto,
Bishop of Mayence, is one OF this kind.
1t is preserved in stanzas which are well
remembered by school-childrcn. To
avoid the importantly of the starving
people during period of famine, the
wicked prelate collected them in barn.
"And while for mercy on Christ thcy call,
He set fire to the barn and burnt thom ALL
Thcreupon he was attacked by an army
Of mice and escaped to his tower, the
Mauseschloss, on n rock in the Rhine.
But the avenging army of mice quickly
followed him and poured in by thous-
ands, sin the windows and in at the
DOORS" until the Bishop was ovcrpow-
ercu anu uestTOyeu'
"They gnawed the flesh from every limb.
For they were sent TO do Judgment on him."
The tower where the Bishop met his
death has since been called the Mouse
Tower. A different story concerning it
Is given in Murray's Handbook of Ger
many. 1t is here asserted that the tower
was not built until the thirteenth cent.
ury, more than two hundred years after
the death of Bishop Hatto. ~. was in
tended, with the opposite Castle Of
Ehrenfels, erected at about the same
time, as a watch-tower and dollhouse
for collecting duties upon all goods
which passed the spot. The word
mdnaS is probably an older form OF
mduth, meaning duty or toll, and this
name, together with the very unpopular
object for which the tower was erected,
perhaps gave rise to the dolorous story
of Bishop Hatto and the mice"
The same story is told of the Swiss
Baron, Won Guttingen, who was pursued
and devourcd by mice in his castle in
Lake Constance. 1t is also told, with u
variation, of the Polish King Popiel
When the Poles murmured at his bad
government, and sought redress, he
summoned the chief rcmonstrants to
his palace, poisoned them, and had
their bodies thrown into the lake Go
polo. He sought refuge from the mice
within circle of fire, but was overrun
and eaten by them. The writer recalls
a story with somewhat similar moral
which was current in the neighborhood
where he passed his boyhood days. In
this case the offender was farmer who
for some shockingly impious deed was
fated to be literally eaten out of house
and home by swarms Of rats.
There are many superstitious notions
still lingering among the people in re-
gard to rats, some ascrbing to them
extraordinary intelligence and quickness
of perception, 1t would be Il matter OF
curious interest to know how many
"haunted houses" have got their ghostly
reputation from the pranks OF these
rodents. 1t is certain that esprit rap
pings" and unnatural noises Of various
kinds have, on investigation, in numer-
Gus instances resolved themselves into
nothing more unearthly than bevy Of
squeaking rats. 1t must be confessed
that the creatures do have ''uncanny'
ways, and their apparent preference for
such unpleasant places as dungeons,
charnel houses and gloomy garrets does
not tend to give them a wholesome rep
utation.-M Y. Observer.