Johann the Brave
By Brent Larsen
Kalamazoo Valley Community College
Spring 2007

Johann was a brave boy, he had to be. At the young age of fourteen he was far from being a man. Or what he believed a man to be. Yet here he was. The eldest of the village, a hero and a leader in the others eyes. He had never seen himself that way, nor even imagined himself ever to play the role. He had always considered himself quiet and unremarkable, but beneath a star lit canopy, Johann had become just the opposite. He was the leader, and all of his people counted on him.

Johann was an only child; he lost his father four years earlier to a farming accident. His mother, a seamstress, barely made enough money to put food on the table. Johann had to leave school in order to help fend off the bill collectors. He would clean boats, scale fish, and mop up blood and guts from the days catch, or whatever other odd jobs at the dock he could find. Children whom he used to go to school with would ridicule and tease him when they crossed him on the street, or God forbid, knock at their door asking for work. Even his friends who first felt bad about calling him names had upgraded to throwing trash and dirt at him. They would tease him with the chant Poor boy, poor boy, holes in his clothes. What will he eat? Nobody knows.

As time went by Johann and his mother grew poorer and poorer. They began to sell things. First they were unimportant things like rugs, tools, and furniture. Then slowly as times got harder they began selling bigger things. His fathers favorite horse, the oxen he used to plow the field, and finally the land itself. His fathers land that once stretched as far as he could run was now chopped to a small sliver of what it used to be. Everything that reminded him of his father was gone except for a small wood-handled knife he kept tucked in his boot. Johann had no intentions for the knife other than the memory of his father. It was the only thing left that his mother did not know about.

After four years they were out of things to sell, the house was their lone possession. Hope was nearly gone. One morning while Johann was scrubbing the fish guts off the dock, a river boat unlike anything he had ever seen pulled up along side the dock and tossed him a line.

A man from the boat hollered Tie us up boy, we wish to come ashore.

Johann did exactly as the man said and even pulled the plank to starboard side of the vessel. Off stepped a man dressed in the most amazing attire. His coat and cape were so colorful and vibrant that Johann just stood and stared at the man. He had never seen cloth of this type and knew that it had to be extremely expensive. Nearly as soon as the man steadied his land legs, the village people began to rush and greet the visitor. They quickly pushed past Johann and he faded back into the shadows once again.

The man requested a meeting with the towns mayor declaring that he came to Hamelin at the request of the Pope himself. The brightly clothed man was ushered to the town square to meet with the mayor and councilmen. The mayor invited the man inside the town hall and closed the doors behind them. Rumors began to flood the town as word of the brightly clothed man traveled from house to house. This was not typical of the small town.

Later that evening the mayor announced a town meeting for all the men in the village. Johann was extremely curious about this man; he had to know what message he brought. Before the meeting started he snuck up the rubbish chute into the back room of the town hall. The past four years of cleaning the garbage of others had taught him many ways to get places. Through a crack in the door he was able to hear and see all that the man was saying. Johann heard the brightly clothed man tell the men of the town that the Pope had asked for their help in the crusade. The man told them that the Pope directly asked for the children of Hamelin to join the cause because of the towns honor and devout Christian beliefs. The towns men began rumbling, a soft roar of disapproval.

The visitor heaved a bulging leather satchel onto the table and declared it a gift from the Pope himself. The towns mayor untied the bag and stepped back in amazement. Johann had never seen so much gold in his life. It was enough to buy his farm back and make new of everything they had sold. The man once again gained control of the meeting. He instructed the towns men that any families that supported the crusade would receive a satchel of this exact size upon their childs return in one year. The meeting lasted for hours until all of the fathers agreed to send their children. A total of one hundred and twenty-nine children were pledged.

Johann quickly slid back down the rubbish chute and ran as fast as his legs would take him all the way back home. His mother was sitting at a small table mending a pair of pants. She spun around as Johann swung the door open, ranting inaudible phrases under winded breath. His mother brought him a glass of water and a blanket to try and calm her son. Johann told her all that he had heard and seen. He told her of the brightly clothed man, the Popes request, and the heavy satchel of gold. They both knew what had to be done. This was their last chance.

One week later the brightly clothed man arrived again alongside the dock, this time with twenty boats in tow. Parents began to migrate toward the dock, mothers weeping and fathers pretending to be strong. They brought their children up to the dock one by one. The man in the brightly colored clothing removed a flute from inside his cape and began to play uplifting songs, trying to ease the heats of the parents. One by one the children entered the boats. As the 129th child entered the last boat, Johann was left alone on the dock. The brightly clothed man approached Johann, and began to question him. Johann told the man about his father, and why he needed the money.

The man looked down at Johann and said, The Pope needs brave young boys like yourself, your reward will be the same as the others.

With that, Johann crossed the plank and sat quietly amongst the well-dressed children of his town. The lines were tossed back to the boats and the towns children left for the crusade.

The boats sailed north up the Weser River, much further than Johan had ever been. The river wound east and west, and the journey was long. After two days on the river it opened up to a great sea and the land quickly disappeared. Just at the horizon Johann could make out the outline of a ship so large he was amazed it could float. The entire journey all the other children could talk about was how brave each of them were, and how famous they would become. They knew the Pope would be waiting for them when they returned as heroes and give them bags of gold for their bravery.

All of this changed as soon as the boats were hoisted to the deck of the ship. The men on board were not nearly as well dressed as the brightly clothed piper. Most of them were shirtless, dirty and scarred. They did not speak in a language that the children could understand, and the soft tones that the piper used were replaced with sharp barks and bellowing commands. The children were all pushed and dragged below deck into a dark, damp and wretched smelling room. Screams and cries were heard from all the children as they called out for their parents. Two days passed before the door opened again and light flooded through the opening. Two hulking figures treaded down the stairs and began to snatch children up.

Johann was one of the children picked. He was carried topside, eyes burning from the sun. The man dropped him carelessly on the deck and walked away. As Johanns vision began to focus, he could see the brightly clothed piper only a few feet in front of him. As the other children cowered, Johann stood and asked the piper, Why is the Pope treating us this way?

The man responded, Silly boy, you are not here at the Popes request and you will not be going to the crusade. This boat is headed to Africa where you will be sold as slaves.

At that moment Johann realized the entire towns people had been fooled by a brightly clothed man with slick words and a single satchel of gold. For the remainder of the day into nightfall Johann and the other five children chosen prepared food and entertained the ships hands. At the end of the day, they were tossed back down below deck with a few loaves of bread to feed the rest of the children. Word of what really happened, the trickery and slavery, traveled quickly through the room.

For twenty-six days, six children were dragged topside to complete their work. Despite the abuse, Johann made sure every day he was one of them. Johann observed everything. He watched how the men moved the sail, manipulated the ropes and which hatches they passed through. He made note on the layout of the ship and the tempo of the ship hands. He learned that when they were thrown back down below, only three men remained topside while the rest were in the crews quarters drinking or sleeping.

All day and all night the children cried and whimpered hopeless mutterings. Johann had already known what it was like to feel hopeless. He had already learned what it was like to stand strong in the face of adversity. While the other children sat in sorrow, he planned a great escape. On a night that Johann felt he knew all the angles he laid his plan before the other children. In the darkness, Johann became a beacon of light. Those children who hat taunted him the most back home became his strongest supporters in this dreadful hour of woe.

Johann shared his idea about how they might all escape. He requested help of five others to work topside with him the following day. Three boys and two girls courageously spoke up knowing the abuse it entailed. He explained how the crew retired shortly after sunset, and that only three would remain above deck. One to navigate, one to steer, and the other one threw the child workers back into the dark belly of the ship. It was at that moment, when the man opened the hatch that all the children had to be ready.

The next day when the six children including Johann were dragged into the blinding sun the cogs of the plan began to turn. Johann cautiously showed the other children how the ropes worked, and pointed out where the men would be. He gave them individual positions and jobs to do when the time came. The five other children were astounded by this poor boy that was leading them, and they the sneers and abuse he had suffered back home were misplaced. Whereas before they had mistaken poverty to also mean stupidity, they were now learning that poverty breeds ingenuity.

As night fell and the grim towering man forced the children back into the hatch, Johanns plan sprang into action. The man stepped clumsily down the ladder not knowing the trap the children had in store. One large boy stood underneath and behind the ladder, hidden from the mans view. From the faint light of the moon, he was able to see the mans enormous feet. Just as the man stepped down the ladder in front of the lad, he reached out and pulled on the mans ankles. The man tumbled down head over heels. At the bottom of the ladder the children piled on top of the stunned man. They bound his hands and feet with their belts and laces. The two girls that volunteered that day snuck to their position in the aft of the ship. These girls were very daring and quick. They first tied the crew hatch shut from the outside. That took care of all but the two remaining crew on deck. Next they knocked over two lamps at the aft of the ship, starting a small fire on the deck. The girls quickly slipped back to the other children before the navigator and pilot even noticed the blaze.

While the two remaining crew members were distracted by the fire, the three boys then headed to their positions on the port side of the ship. They guided the children onto the same shore boats that brought them to this forsaken ship. One by one the children lowered the twenty shore boats into the water and climbed down into them.

At the same time the children were loading into the shore boats, Johann ran to the ships mast and began to cut the rigging ropes. The enormous white sails that propelled the ship came sliding down to the deck. Johan cut them lose and let the wind carry them off the deck. He watched as the sails settled first on top of the water, and then slowly sank beneath their own weight, floating away like giant ghosts into the night. By the time the two crewmen realized the fire was only a diversion it was too late. Johann had already made it over the side and into the last boat. From the light of the flames, Johann could see the men as they busted through the hatch and raced to see the fleeing shore boats. One figure was easy for Johann to make out. A brightly clothed man crossed his arms in disbelief. He stood unwavering, watching as the shore boats floated away.

By sunrise the ship was nowhere to be seen, and the boats floated directionless on the immense ocean. For two days the boats bobbed on the waves, tied together by rope from the sails. During the night of the second day, the boats were washed ashore. The sea legged children waddled to the shore embracing the dry land. As the sun crept above the horizon again the children were amazed at the sight before them. It was paradise, land unlike any they had seen before. Birds sang exotic songs. Berries and fruits littered the trees and bushes.

Johann was a brave boy, he had to be. This was a new land, one that stretched as far as he could run. It was no longer the sliver that he had become accustomed to back home. All the children stood there, just like him dirty with holes in their clothes. They now looked at the once poor boy as a hero and a leader. It was up to Johann to build a new village.

Some say that the slave ship drifted aimlessly far out into the Atlantic Ocean. With no sails, no ropes, and no shore boats the ship was swallowed by tremendous waves. No matter what happened to the ship though, the brightly clothed piper was never seen again. Johann put an end to stealing children for slavery. Johann named the island Madeira, after his mother. The children grew up, married, had children of their own, and lived to see grandchildren. It was a hundred years before the island was rediscovered, only two hundred miles from their pipers original destination, Africa.