Pied Piper of Hamelin.
This was a very famous fairy tale. It told of a small German town plagued by rats, until a clown carrying a flute arrived. He said he could drive away the infestation, but he required payment. The townspeople agreed that if he could get rid of the rats, they would reward him handsomely.
So the clown played his flute and led all the rats into the river, where they drowned. The townspeople were delighted, but when the clown demanded his payment, they refused to pay.
The clown silently left the town. Then, that very night, the sound of his flute rang out through the town once again. Upon hearing it, the children climbed out of their beds and followed the clown into the night, never to return.
Of course, there was nothing much to say about the story itself... There were plenty of similar tales in Chinese myths and legends. For example, a family might be haunted, and a Taoist priest would come to exorcise the ghosts. Once the ghosts were gone, the family would turn their backs on their promise. The Taoist priest would leave, and afterward, the family would receive its punishment—either they would have no children, suffer from endless illness and calamity, or have their entire household ruined in the end... It was basically always the same pattern.
There were even more stories like that in Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. A scholar would travel to the capital for the imperial examination and encounter demonic creatures along the way. The demonic creatures would say they could lend him a hand, but afterward he had to burn incense and worship them. The scholar would agree and indeed pass the examination with high honors, but after becoming drunk on wealth and pleasure, he would