The Pied Piper
The tale of the Pied Piper of Hamelin is known the world over. Unlike many such tales, it’s not exactly a happy one. And even the modern-day version is pretty dark. Indeed, the modern-day telling, as made famous by the Brothers Grimm and then the poet Robert Browning, sticks close to the twisted original version of the legend – child abduction and all.
The story centres on the small German town of Hamelin. Here, in the late Middle Ages, the people were struggling with an infestation of rats. Then, one day, a rat-catcher in multicolored (or ‘pied’) clothes arrives and offers to drive all the rats away. For a price, of course. The desperate people agree and hire him. The Pied Piper then takes out his magic pipe and starts to play. The music draws the rats out and they all follow him as he walks out of town. The wily Pied Piper leads the plague-ridden rodents to the river where they all drown.
Despite having rid Hamelin of rats, the people don’t pay the Pied Piper. Angered, he waits until all the adults are in church and then plays his pipes again. The children follow him out of town and they are never seen again. In some modern versions, the people of Hamelin give in, pay him the money they owe and their children are returned to them. But in some earlier tellings, the endings are much darker. Sometimes the Pied Piper drowns all the children too. And in some versions, he makes them join an army and fight in the Crusades.