{"id":50066,"date":"2021-05-29T15:23:14","date_gmt":"2021-05-29T19:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=50066"},"modified":"2021-05-29T15:23:14","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T19:23:14","slug":"animal-news-mice-are-eating-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=50066","title":{"rendered":"Animal news: mice are eating Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Slight exaggeration but this New York Times piece isn’t slight<\/a>. Or funny. As the reporter, Yan Zhuang writes:<\/p>\n

In addition to devouring crops, they\u2019ve bitten people in their beds, dropped out of air-conditioning units and gnawed through appliances. They\u2019ve eaten the toes off chickens in their pens. They\u2019ve been blamed as whole towns<\/a> have lost phone reception and a house has burned down<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Instantly, I began mentally to recite Robert Browning’s “The Pied Piper of Hamelin,” the opening three stanzas of which I had selected and memorized for a high school English course. Why that poem, instead of a love sonnet? I guess because it told a epic story, a mix-up of social and political satire, compassion for the disabled and the ones left behind, an attack on the avarice of the rich, and horror, delivered in a witty staccato cadence.<\/p>\n

That is, “The Pied Piper”<\/a> was pure, teenage me.<\/p>\n

I still remember almost every line, although neither my prowess nor the poem can help Australian farmers. For that I am sorry.<\/p>\n

I<\/p>\n

Hamelin Town’s in Brunswick,<\/p>\n

By famous Hanover city;<\/p>\n

The River Weser, deep and wide,<\/p>\n

Washes its wall on the southern side;<\/p>\n

A pleasanter spot you’ve never spied;<\/p>\n

But, when begins my ditty,<\/p>\n

Almost five hundred years ago,<\/p>\n

To see the townsfolk suffer so<\/p>\n

From vermin, was a pity.<\/p>\n

II<\/p>\n

Rats!<\/p>\n

They fought the dogs, and killed the cats,<\/p>\n

And bit the babies in the cradles,<\/p>\n

And ate the cheeses out of the vats,<\/p>\n

And licked the soup from the cook’s own ladles,<\/p>\n

Split open the kegs of salted sprats,<\/p>\n

Made nests inside men’s Sunday hats,<\/p>\n

And even spoiled the women’s chats,<\/p>\n

By drowning their speaking<\/p>\n

With shrieking and squeaking<\/p>\n

In fifty different sharps and flats.<\/p>\n

III<\/p>\n

At last the people in a body<\/p>\n

To the Town Hall came flocking:<\/p>\n

“‘Tis clear,” cried they, “our Mayor’s a noddy;<\/p>\n

And as for our Corporation–shocking<\/p>\n

To think we buy gowns lined with ermine<\/p>\n

For dolts that can’t or won’t determine<\/p>\n

What’s best to rid us of our vermin!<\/p>\n

You hope, because you’re old and obese,<\/p>\n

To find in the furry civic robe ease?<\/p>\n

Rouse up, Sirs! Give your brains a racking<\/p>\n

To find the remedy we’re lacking,<\/p>\n

Or, sure as fate, we’ll send you packing!”<\/p>\n

At this the Mayor and Corporation<\/p>\n

Quaked with a mighty consternation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Slight exaggeration but this New York Times piece isn’t slight. Or funny. As the reporter, Yan Zhuang writes: In addition to devouring crops, they\u2019ve bitten people in their beds, dropped out of air-conditioning units and gnawed through appliances. They\u2019ve eaten … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4775,5048,1175],"tags":[7282,7280,7283,7281,5016,7284],"class_list":["post-50066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-animal-news","category-climate-change","category-the-facts-of-life","tag-the-pied-piper-of-hamelin","tag-australian-farmers","tag-hamelin","tag-plague-of-mice","tag-robert-browning","tag-weser-river"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t