In 1284 the town of Hamelin in Germany was plagued by rats.
One day an odd looking piper appeared offering to rid the town of rats, and the Mayor gladly agreed to pay him. As he played his pipe the rats followed the stranger towards the river, where they fell in and drowned.
When the Piper asked for his fee, the Mayor refused. As the piper played once more, all the children of the town followed him, dancing towards Koppelberg mountain. An enormous cavern opened up, the children ran inside and were never seen again!
The Pied Piper of Hamelin plays out in the Germanic town of Hamelin (now called Hameln) in 1284. The town had been suffering from a severe rat infestation when a man arrived carrying a musical pipe and wearing ‘pied’ or multicoloured clothing. He promised the mayor to rid the town of its rats in exchange for a fee.
The music he played on his pipe attracted all the town’s rats towards him, after which, he led the entranced animals to the Weser River nearby, where they all dove in and drowned.
However, the mayor refused to pay the piper and he went away planning revenge. On June 26, the day of St John and also of St Paul, the piper returned, dressed as a hunter and wearing a red hat. He was playing a different tune.
This time, all the town’s children followed him hypnotised. The piper led them to a mountain cave, and the children were never heard from again. The story notes that the mayor’s grown up daughter was among the children who were lost.
Credit : India Today
Picture Credit : Google
