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14 AUGUST, 2014 - 01:09 DHWTY

The Disturbing True Story of the Pied Piper


of Hamelin

When, lo! as they reached the mountain-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.
Robert Browning, The Pied Piper of Hamelin: A Childs Story

Many are familiar with the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Few realise however, that the story is
based on real events, which evolved over the years into a fairy tale made to scare children.
16.2k
Shares For those unfamiliar with the tale, it is set in 1284 in the town of Hamelin, Lower Saxony, Germany.
This town was facing a rat infestation, and a piper, dressed in a coat of many coloured, bright cloth,
appeared. This piper promised to get rid of the rats in return for a payment, to which the
15.9k
townspeople agreed too. Although the piper got rid of the rats by leading them away with his music,
the people of Hamelin reneged on their promise. The furious piper left, vowing revenge. On the 26th
15.9k of July of that same year, the piper returned and led the children away, never to be seen again, just
as he did the rats. Nevertheless, one or three children were left behind, depending on which version

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is being told. One of these children was lame, and could not keep up, another was deaf and could
SUGGESTED BOOKS not hear the music, while the third one was blind and could not see where he was going.

The earliest known record of this story is from the town of Hamelin itself depicted in a stained glass
window created for the church of Hamelin, which dates to around 1300 AD. Although it was
destroyed in 1660, several written accounts have survived. The oldest comes from the Lueneburg
manuscript (c 1440 50), which stated: In the year of 1284, on the day of Saints John and Paul on
June 26, by a piper, clothed in many kinds of colours, 130 children born in Hamelin were seduced,
and lost at the place of execution near the koppen.

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ARTICLE

ACTIVE FORUM TOPICS The oldest known picture of the Pied Piper copied from the glass window of the Market Church in
Increase A303 Stonehenge Hameln/Hamelin Germany (c.1300-1633). Image source: Wikimedia.

Tunnel to 6.12km (3.8mi)


The supposed street where the children were last seen is today called Bungelosenstrasse (street
I can not write an article
without drums), as no one is allowed to play music or dance there. Incidentally, it is said that the rats
An ancient map is found in
were absent from earlier accounts, and only added to the story around the middle of the 16th
Ukraine
century. Moreover, the stained glass window and other primary written sources do not speak of the
Pyramids, a global
plague of rats.
phenomena
Chambers inside the Sphinx - If the childrens disappearance was not an act of revenge, then what was its cause? There have
1914 report been numerous theories trying to explain what happened to the children of Hamelin. For instance,
Velikovsky and modern one theory suggests that the children died of some natural causes, and that the Pied Piper was the
discoveries. personification of Death. By associating the rats with the Black Death, it has been suggested that
More the children were victims of this plague. Yet, the Black Death was most severe in Europe between
1348 and 1350, more than half a century after the event in Hamelin. Another theory suggests that
the children were actually sent away by their parents, due to the extreme poverty that they were
living in. Yet another theory speculates that the children were participants of a doomed Childrens
Crusade, and might have ended up in modern day Romania, or that the departure of Hamelin's
children is tied to the Ostsiedlung, in which a number of Germans left their homes to colonize
Eastern Europe. One of the darker theories even proposes that the Pied Piper was actually a
paedophile who crept into the town of Hamelin to abduct children during their sleep.

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31/10/2017 The Disturbing True Story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin | Ancient Origins

One of the darker themed representations of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Credit: Lui-Gon-Jinn

Historical records suggest that the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin was a real event that took
place. Nevertheless, the transmission of this story undoubtedly evolved and changed over the
centuries, although to what extent is unknown, and the mystery of what really happened to those
children has never been solved. The story also raises the question, if the Pied Piper of Hamelin was
based on reality, how much truth is there in other fairy tales that we were told as children?

SUGGESTED BOOKS Featured image: An illustration of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Credit: Monlster

By wty

References

Anderson, D., 2012. The Pied Piper of Hamelin: The facts behind the fairy tale. [Online]
Available at: http://www.examiner.com/article/the-pied-piper-of-hamelin-the-facts-behind-the-
fairy-tale

Ashliman, D. L., 2013. The Pied Piper of Hameln and related legends from other towns. [Online]
Available at: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/hameln.html

Cuervo, M. J. P., 2010. The Lost Children of Hamelin. [Online]


Available at:
http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/3805/the_lost_children_of_hamelin.html

Dennis, 2011. The Truth Behind the Legend of the Pied Piper. [Online]
Available at: http://www.topsecretwriters.com/2011/01/the-truth-behind-the-legend-of-the-pied-
piper/

Foster, N., 2014. Is the Pied Piper of Hamelin Based on an Actual Event?. [Online]
Available at: http://www.wisegeek.com/is-the-pied-piper-of-hamelin-based-on-an-actual-
event.htm

McGarth, J., 2014. Was there really a pied piper of Hamelin?. [Online]
Available at: http://history.howstuffworks.com/history-vs-myth/pied-piper.htm

Pearson, L., 2005. On the trail of the real Pied Piper. [Online]
Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4277707.stm

Click here to REMOVE the ADS Wikipedia, 2014. Pied Piper of Hamelin. [Online]
Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_Piper_of_Hamelin

Section:
Myths & Legends

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pied piper Hamelin Germany children rats village fairy tale story Music

pipe

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I am a university student doing a BA degree in Archaeology My interests
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