Comprehensive information and links about The Pied Piper

The Pied Piper is a folk tale, among others written down by the Brothers Grimm. It tells about a disaster in the town of Hamelin, Germany, that supposedly occurred on June 26, 1284. In that year a man came to Hamelin claiming to be a rat-catcher. The people of Hamelin promised him payment for killing the rats. So the man took a pipe, attracted the rats by his music and made them follow him to the Weser river, where they all drowned. Despite this success the people reneged on their promise and did not pay the rat-catcher.

He left the town, but returned several weeks later. While the inhabitants were in the church, he played his pipe again, this time attracting the children of Hamelin. One hundred and thirty boys and girls followed him out of the town, where they were lured into a cave and sealed inside. Depending on the version, at most two children remained behind.

The earliest mention of the story seems to have been on a glass window placed in the church of Hamelin 1300. It was described in several accounts between the 14th century and the 17th century but it seems to have been destroyed. Based on the surviving deions, a modern reconstruction of the window has been created by Hans Dobbertin. It features the colorful figure of the Pied Piper and several figures of children dressed in white.

This window is generally considered to have been created in memory of a tragic historical event for the city. But although there has been a lot of research, no clear explanation can be given of what historical event is behind the reports, see an external link with a list of theories. However, the rats were first added to the story in the late 16th century; they are absent from all previous accounts. Some traumatic event must have given rise to the legend; Hamelin town records are dated from this time.

Theories that have gained some support can be grouped into the following four categories:

The children fell victim to an accident, either drowning in the river Weser or being buried in a landslide.The children contracted some disease during an epidemic and were led out of town to die in order to protect the rest of the city's population from contracting it. An early form of Black Death has been suggested. Others attribute the dancing of the children to be an early reference to Huntington's disease, an inherited disorder. Another possibility would be the outbreaks of chorea, or communal dancing mania, which are recorded in a number of European towns during the period of general distress which followed the Black Death. The 'VersteganBrowning' date, 1376, would be consistent with this. These theories perceive the Piper as a symbolic figure of Death. Death is often portrayed dressed in motley, or "pied." Analogous themes which are associated with this theory include the Dance of Death, , a common medieval type. Various ecstatic outbreaks were associated with the Plague, such as the Flagellants, who wandered from place to place while scourging themselves in penance for sins that presumably brought the plague upon Europe. The rat is the preferred host for the plague vector, the rat flea. When the rats die first, the fleas seek a secondary host. Children would be more vulnerable to the disease.The children left the city to be part of a pilgrimage, a military campaign, or even a new Children's crusade but never returned to their parents. These theories see the unnamed Piper as their leader or a recruiting agent.The children willingly abandoned their parents and Hamelin in order to become the founders of their own villages during the colonization of Eastern Europe. Several European villages and cities founded around this time have been suggested as the result of their efforts as settlers. This claim is supported by corresponding placenames in both the region around Hamelin, and the eastern colonies. Again the Piper is seen as their leader.

The tradition that the children emigrated in 1284 is so old and well-reported that explanations associated with the Black Death seem unlikely. Modern scholars regard the emigration theory to be the most probable, i.e. that the Pied Piper of Hamelin was a recruiter for the colonization of Eastern Europe which took part in the 13th century and that he led away a big part of the young generation of Hamelin to a region in Eastern Germany.

Decan Lude of Hamelin was reported 1384 to have in his possession a chorus book containing a Latin verse giving an eyewitness account of the event. The verse was reportedly written by his grandmother. This chorus book is believed to have been lost since the late 17th century.

A German account of the event seems to have survived in a 1602) seems to be a reference to one of several hills surrounding the city. Which of them was intended by the verse's author remains uncertain.

The oldest remaining written source is from 1440.

Reportedly, there is a long-established law forbidding singing and music in one particular street of Hamelin, out of respect for the victims.

In 1556 "De miraculis sui temporis" (Latin: Concerning the Wonders of his Times) by Jobus Fincelius mentions the legend. The author identifies the Piper with the Devil.

The earliest English account is that of Richard Rowland Verstegan (1548-c. 1636), an antiquary and religious controversialist of partly Dutch descent, in his 'Restitution of Decayed Intelligence' (Antwerp, 1605); unfortunately he does not give his source. He includes the reference to the rats and the idea that the lost children turned up in Transylvania. The phrase 'Pied Piper' seems to have been coined by Verstegan. Curiously enough his date is entirely different from that given above: 22 July 1376. Verstegan's account was copied in Nathaniel Wanley's 'Wonders of the Visible World' (1687), which was the immediate source of Robert Browning's well-known poem (below).

In 1803, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote a poem based on the legend. He incorporated references to the story in his version of Faust. The first part of the Drama was first published in 1808 and the second in 1832.

Jakob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm, siblings known as the Brothers Grimm, drawing from eleven sources included the tale in their collection "Deutsche Sagen" (German Legends), first published in 1816. According to their account two children were left behind as one was blind and the other lame, so neither could follow the others. The rest became the founders of Siebenbürgen (Transylvania).

Based probably on the Grimm Brother's version of the tale, Robert Browning wrote a poem of that name which was published in 1849. It places the events on July 22, 1376. Browning's verse retelling is notable for its humor, wordplay, and jingling rhymes.

“When, lo, as they reached the mountain's side, A wondrous portal opened wide, As if a cavern was suddenly hollowed; And the Piper advanced and the children followed, And when all were in to the very last, The door in the mountain-side shut fast.”

This place is up the Coppenbrugge mountain, and is infamously known as an ancient site of pagan worship.

The Pied Piper story is heavily referenced by the Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva in her poem , first published in 1925.

"The Pied Piper" is the title of a well-known novel (later filmed) by Nevil Shute.

In 2005, children's author Jane Yolen wrote a young adult novel about the tale: , a rock and roll fairy tale.

Also in 2005, Adam McCune and Keith McCune, a father-son writing team, published , which portrays the Pied Piper as a lurer for a clan of rats, who will feast upon the children on the townspeople who did not repay their debt.We're all following a strange melody, we're all following a tune, we're following the piper and we dance beneath the moon."In the title track of Radiohead's album Kid A (2000), the song references the tale in the ending lyrics "The rats and children follow me out of town, the rats and children follow me out of their homes. Come on kids."In Extremo have recently put Goethe's verse to music in their song Der Rattenfänger on their album Sünder ohne Zügel.The story has been depicted many times on film: 1903, 1911, 1913, 1918, 1924, 1926, 1933, 1957, 1972, 1982 and 1985.The 1957 film "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" was a musical version, using the music of Edvard Grieg, and starring Van Johnson in the title role was set in Nazi-occupied France and was only very loosely connected with the original story. It was filmed as (based on the novel by Russell Banks) makes extensive metaphorical use of the Pied Piper legend. Browning's poem forms the narration for the film, delivered by a young girl who was crippled in a school bus accident that killed all of the other children in her small Canadian town. The