Some historians have suggested the children were recruited into a children’s crusade to retake the Holy Land. So, the obvious question: where did the children go? I don’t know if Hamelin ever had a rat problem, though didn’t everyone back then? But the town has maintained for over 600 years that something akin to the legend actually happened. After passing Calvary near the Koppenberg they disappeared forever.”īeyond that, the town's own records from 1384 note that “It is 100 years since our children left.” There were also records of such an event in the stained glass of the church (destroyed in the 17th century) and a 15th century manuscript referring to 130 children vanishing from town on June 26, 1284. Paul - 130 children - born in Hamelin - were led out of the town by a piper wearing multicolored clothes. 1284 - on the 26th of June - the day of St. It’s probably a true story.Īccording to an inscribed façade from 1602 around a Hamelin house from much earlier, “A.D. “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” isn’t a fairy tale. People love coming to the town and walking through a fairy tale. The real town of Hamelin in Lower Saxony, Germany, uses the legend as part of its tourist economy involving guided tours, themed meals at restaurants and multiple reenactment venues. It’s not the most popular tale in the genre, but it is one that has stuck around for centuries. The children are led away to the same location of the rats, never to be seen again. The Piper then starts playing again except this time it is the children of the town that are entranced. The Piper returns to Hamelin and the town refuses to pay him.
The man entrances the rats with his music and leads them away, whether that’s to a watery grave or in the version I remember, to a set of caves outside of town. The man offers to get rid of the rats for a fee. One day, a man shows up, often described as flamboyantly dressed and carrying a flute of some sort. You might know the Brothers Grimm version, the Robert Browning poem or as is my recent experience, the Disney version, “Pied Piper Mickey.” Whichever version you’re familiar with, they all follow more or less the same pattern.īack in fairy tale times, the town of Hamelin had a rat problem.
If you’re like me, you’re familiar with the story of “The Pied Piper of Hamelin.” It’s a story I remember from my youth and have recently rediscovered as my 2-year-old has taken a fancy for the tale.
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