The Pied Piper of Hamelin, by artist Kate Greenaway (1846-1901) and engraver Edmund Evans (1826–1905), for Robert Browning’s humorous retelling of the Mediaeval legend in verse. The tale, set in 13th century Saxony, is thought to recall a historical event involving a sudden loss of population from the region around Hanover, such as an epidemic or mass migration.
Part 1 of 2
IN 1284,* the town of Hamelin on the River Weser was plagued by an infestation of rats. They fought the dogs and killed the cats, they bit babies in their cradles, gnawed into cheese and licked soup from ladles, until the despairing people rose in a body and blamed the mayor.
Despite years of wearing ermine robes and eating excellent dinners, neither the mayor nor his councillors had any solution. At that moment, however, there came a soft knock on the door of the council chamber, and a man entered. His figure was slender, his eyes piercing blue, and his long coat was half yellow and half red. The visitor announced himself as the Pied Piper, and exhibiting his pipe reeled off a list of his triumphs in pest-control, from gnats in Mongolia to vampire-bats in India. He seemed heaven-sent, and the council lost no time in engaging the piper’s services, with a promise of a thousand gilders on completion.
The town chronicle of Hamelin for 1384 stated “It is 100 years since our children left.”
Précis
In 1284, the twon of Hamelin in Saxony (so legend says) was infested by rats. The town’s governors were at their wits’ end, until stranger came and offered his services, promising to clear the infestation as he done in other towns of the world. The townsfolk eagerly agreed, and promised him a thousand gilders if he succeeded. (56 / 60 words)
Part Two
Hameln (Hamelin) as it is today. The town lies in the Weser Uplands of Lower Saxony, a state of modern-day Germany; in the 13th century, it was part of the Duchy of Saxony. In 1705 it was inherited by the new Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg, George Louis, Prince of Calenberg, who became King George I of England in 1715. The Kingdom of Hanover, as the principality was informally known, remained tied to the English crown until Napoleon annexed it in 1803; George III finally relinquished the title in 1814. Hanover was absorbed into Prussia in 1867.
THE piper beamed, and began playing his pipe; and not three notes had sounded before rats of all shapes, sizes and colours started pouring out of the houses. Bewitched, all but one very old rat followed him down to the river, where they drowned.
Satisfied, the piper went to the mayor and demanded his thousand gilders. ‘That’ said the mayor hastily ‘was a joke. But we’ll go as high as fifty.’ So the piper put his pipe to his lips, and not three notes had sounded before children of all kinds started pouring out of the houses. Tripping and skipping merrily, all but one lame boy followed him through the streets, across the river and, to the horror of the mayor and corporation, into a cave that suddenly opened up in the hillside.
There they passed out of sight and knowledge; and though rumours came of boys and girls in German dress who had mysteriously appeared in far-off Transylvania, the townsfolk never saw their children again.
Précis
The stranger produced a pipe and, wearing his curiously multicoloured gown, merrily piped the rats away to drown in the river. However, though he had fulfilled his side of the bargain the townsfolk withheld his promised reward, so the pied piper piped their children away into a riverside cave, never to be seen again. (54 / 60 words)
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