The Rat-Piper Contest

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents

Keith turns the piper’s coercive spectacle into a fair contest and uses the victory to prevent both humiliation and mass drowning.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Costly Arrival A Costly Arrival from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". Fear Comes to Town A formidable reputation The professional piper arrives with a reputation for expensive services and terrifying punishments.

A Costly Arrival from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". Fear Comes to Town A formidable reputation The professional piper arrives with a reputation for expensive services and terrifying punishments.

Fear Comes to Town A formidable reputation The professional piper arrives with a reputation for expensive services and terrifying punishments. A town under pressure Bad Blintz cannot easily afford his fee, and the mayor fears the consequences of refusing him.

Keith Steps Forward Keith Steps Forward from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". A Public Challenge The apparent mismatch Keith calls the piper a fraud and challenges his ability to summon even one Rat.

Keith Steps Forward from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". A Public Challenge The apparent mismatch Keith calls the piper a fraud and challenges his ability to summon even one Rat.

A Public Challenge The apparent mismatch Keith calls the piper a fraud and challenges his ability to summon even one Rat. The stakes become personal The piper accepts, turning a financial threat into a contest that the townspeople can judge.

The Borrowed Trombone The Borrowed Trombone from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". Music Against Mechanism Improvisation With his flute broken, Keith borrows a battered trombone and plays without knowing how the instrument will respond.

The Borrowed Trombone from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". Music Against Mechanism Improvisation With his flute broken, Keith borrows a battered trombone and plays without knowing how the instrument will respond.

Music Against Mechanism Improvisation With his flute broken, Keith borrows a battered trombone and plays without knowing how the instrument will respond. A comic defeat Sardines dances out, but the piper’s answering note summons only the damaged clockwork Mr Clicky.

The Secret of the Pipe The Secret of the Pipe from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". A Trick Revealed No supernatural force The piper explains that a concealed slider produces a sound that humans cannot hear but Rats can.

The Secret of the Pipe from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". A Trick Revealed No supernatural force The piper explains that a concealed slider produces a sound that humans cannot hear but Rats can.

A Trick Revealed No supernatural force The piper explains that a concealed slider produces a sound that humans cannot hear but Rats can. Reputation as leverage His frightening legends are an advertisement that helps him command high fees and deference in isolated towns.

A Victory Shared A Victory Shared from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". The Piper Gets Paid A practical resolution Keith asks the piper to lead the Rats out as a real performance rather than leave him disgraced and unpaid.

A Victory Shared from "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents". The Piper Gets Paid A practical resolution Keith asks the piper to lead the Rats out as a real performance rather than leave him disgraced and unpaid.

The Piper Gets Paid A practical resolution Keith asks the piper to lead the Rats out as a real performance rather than leave him disgraced and unpaid. A better bargain The plan keeps the town’s public expectations intact while preventing the pipe’s coercive note from controlling the Rats.

The morning after the rat-pit crisis

In the square during the piper’s first meeting with the mayor

Minutes later in the town square

In a private conversation beside the fountain

Immediately after Keith wins the contest