Pied Piper of Hamelin

Background

The earliest known mention of the story appears to have been on a stained-glass window placed in the Church of Hamelin around 1300. The window was described in accounts between the 14th and 17th centuries and was destroyed in 1660. Historian Hans Dobbertin created a modern reconstruction based on surviving descriptions, showing the Pied Piper and children dressed in white. The window is generally considered a memorial to a tragic historical event.

An entry in Hamelin's town records dated 1384 states: 'It is 100 years since our children left.' No explanation for the historical event is universally accepted. Rats were first added to the story in a version from around 1559 and are absent from earlier accounts. Decan Lude of Hamelin reportedly possessed a chorus book around 1384 containing a Latin verse eyewitness account.

The Lüneburg manuscript from around 1440–50 gives an early German account. In 1936, researcher Heinrich Spanuth discovered the earliest version of the story in the Lüneburg city archives.

Plot

The town of Hamelin suffers from a rat infestation. A piper dressed in multicolored clothing appears and claims to be a rat-catcher, promising the burgermeister a solution. The burgermeister agrees to pay him 1,000 guilders for removing the rats. The piper plays his pipe and lures the rats into the Weser River, where they drown.

The burgermeister reneges on the payment, offering only 50 guilders and accusing the piper of bringing the rats himself. Enraged, the piper leaves, vowing revenge. On Saint John and Paul's day, while the adults are in church, the piper returns dressed in green like a hunter and plays his pipe, attracting the town's children. One hundred thirty children follow him out of town into a mountain cave and are never seen again.

Depending on the version, at most three children remain behind: one lame, one deaf, and one blind. These three inform the townsfolk. Other versions depict the piper leading the children to the top of Koppelberg Hill, to a beautiful land, or to Transylvania, or making them drown in the Weser River. In some tellings, the children are returned after payment.

The Hamelin street Bungelosenstrasse is said to be the last place the children were seen, and music or dancing has since been forbidden there.

Theories

Several theories suggest the children died of natural causes such as disease or starvation, with the Piper as a symbolic figure of Death, analogous to the medieval Dance of Death or Danse Macabre. Proposed scenarios include drowning in the Weser River, death in a landslide, or contracting a disease during an epidemic. Another interpretation holds that Hamelin children were lured by a pagan or heretic sect to forests near Coppenbrügge for ritual dancing and perished in a landslide or collapsing sinkhole.

The emigration theory posits that by the 13th century, overpopulation led to the oldest son inheriting all land, leaving others as serfs, and that children may have been sold to a recruiter from the Baltic region of Eastern Europe, a practice not uncommon at the time. Wolfgang Mieder notes historical documents showing that people from Hamelin helped settle parts of Transylvania. Emily Gerard reports a tradition that the lost children of Hamelin reemerged through a cavern in Transylvania after traveling underground.

Transylvania had suffered under Mongol invasions in the early 13th century, around the time of the legend's earliest appearance. The official Hamelin website presents another aspect of the emigration theory.

Adaptations

In 1643, James Howell compared a version of the legend with recent events in London. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote a poem based on the story in 1803, later set to music by Hugo Wolf, and incorporated references in his Faust. The Brothers Grimm included the tale in their 1816 collection Deutsche Sagen, drawing from 11 sources; in their account, two children were left behind, one blind and one lame, and the rest became the founders of Siebenbürgen (Transylvania).

Robert Browning published 'The Pied Piper of Hamelin' in 1842, using the 1605 Verstegan version and adopting the 1376 date; his retelling is noted for its humour and wordplay. Viktor Dyk's 1915 novel Krysař retells the story in a darker manner and includes the character of Faust. Marina Tsvetaeva's long poem The Rat-Catcher (1925–1926) uses rats as an allegory for people influenced by Bolshevik propaganda. Shel Silverstein's 1974 poem 'The One Who Stayed' tells the story from the perspective of a child too scared to follow.

Gloria Skurzynski's 1979 novel What Happened in Hamelin gives the Piper an apprentice. Harlan Ellison's 1978 short story 'Emissary from Hamelin' appears in Strange Wine. Philip Michaels' 1983 horror novel Come, Follow Me is based on the story. China Miéville's 1998 novel King Rat centers on the rivalry between rats and the Pied Piper, who appears as a musician named Pete.

Did You Know?

• In linguistics, pied-piping is the name for the ability of question words and relative pronouns to drag other words along when moved to the front of a sentence.
• The phrase 'pay the piper' may derive from the legend, meaning to pay one's debts or face consequences, though it may also come from the proverb 'he who pays the piper calls the tune.'
• The United States marks a Rat Catcher's Day on 22 July, based on the Hamelin tradition, but it has not become widely observed.