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The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a folk tale, among others written down by the Brothers Grimm . OVERVIEW It tells about a disaster in the town of Hamelin , Germany , that supposedly occurred on June 26 , 1284 . In that year a man came to Hamelin claiming to be a Rat-catcher . The people of Hamelin promised him a schilling a head for killing the Rat s. So the man took a Pipe , attracted the rats by his music and made them follow him to the Weser river, where all 999,999 drowned. Despite this success the people reneged on their promise and did not pay the rat-catcher, because he failed to produce the heads. He left the town, but returned several weeks later. While the inhabitants were in the church, he played his pipe again, this time attracting the children of Hamelin. One hundred and thirty boys and girls followed him out of the town, where they were lured into a cave and sealed inside. Depending on the version, at most two children remained behind. Other versions claim that the Piper returned the children after the villagers paid several times the original amount of gold. The earliest mention of the story seems to have been on a Glass Window placed in the church of Hamelin ''c.'' 1300 . It was described in several accounts between the 14th Century and the 17th Century but it seems to have been destroyed. Based on the surviving descriptions, a modern reconstruction of the window has been created by Hans Dobbertin . It features the colorful figure of the Pied Piper and several figures of children dressed in white. This window is generally considered to have been created in memory of a tragic historical event for the city. But although there has been a lot of research, no clear explanation can be given of what historical event is behind the reports, see [http://www.triune.de/legend an external link with a list of theories]. However, the rats were first added to the story in the late 16th Century ; they are absent from all previous accounts. Some traumatic event must have given rise to the legend; Hamelin town records are dated from this time. Theories that have gained some support can be grouped into the following four categories:
The tradition that the children emigrated in 1284 is so old and well-reported that explanations associated with the Black Death seem unlikely. Modern scholars regard the emigration theory to be the most probable , i.e. that the Pied Piper of Hamelin was a recruiter for the colonization of Eastern Europe which took part in the 13th Century and that he led away a big part of the young generation of Hamelin to a region in Eastern Germany. Decan Lude of Hamelin was reported ''ca.'' 1384 to have in his possession a chorus book containing a Latin verse giving an eyewitness account of the event. The verse was reportedly written by his grandmother. This chorus book is believed to have been lost since the late 17th Century . A German account of the event seems to have survived in a 1602 / 1603 inscription found in Hamelin :
It has been roughly translated into English as:
Koppen (old German: ''hills'') seems to be a reference to one of several hills surrounding the city. Which of them was intended by the verse's author remains uncertain. The oldest remaining written source is from ''ca.'' 1440 . Reportedly, there is a long-established law forbidding singing and music in one particular street of Hamelin, out of respect for the victims: the Bungelosenstrasse adjacent to the Pied Pipers House . In mentions the legend. The author identifies the Piper with the Devil . The earliest English account is that of , 1376 . Verstegan's account was copied in Nathaniel Wanley 's 'Wonders of the Visible World' ( 1687 ), which was the immediate source of Robert Browning 's well-known poem (below). In 1803 , Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe wrote a poem based on the legend. He incorporated references to the story in his version of Faust . The first part of the Drama was first published in 1808 and the second in 1832 . Jakob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , siblings known as the Brothers Grimm , drawing from eleven sources included the tale in their collection "Deutsche Sagen" (German Legends), first published in 1816 . According to their account two children were left behind as one was blind and the other lame, so neither could follow the others. The rest became the founders of Siebenbürgen ( Transylvania ). Based probably on the Grimm Brother's version of the tale, Robert Browning wrote a poem of that name which was published in 1849 . It places the events on July 22 , 1376 . Browning's verse retelling is notable for its humor, wordplay, and jingling rhymes. “When, lo, as they reached the mountain's 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.” This place is up the Coppenbrugge mountain, and is infamously known as an ancient site of Pagan Worship . The Pied Piper story is heavily referenced by the Russia n poet Marina Tsvetaeva in her poem ''The Ratcatcher'', first published in 1925 . "The Pied Piper" is the title of a well-known novel (later filmed) by Nevil Shute . In 2005 , children's author Jane Yolen wrote a young adult novel about the tale: ''Pay the Piper'', a rock and roll fairy tale. Also in 2005, Adam McCune and Keith McCune, a father-son writing team, published '' The Rats Of Hamelin '', in which an eighteen-year-old Pied Piper faces a hidden enemy with powers like his own. "PAY THE PIPER" The tale has inspired a common English phrase, "''pay the piper''", which means to face the inevitable consequences of one's actions. The phrase sometimes refers to a financial transaction but often does not. A phrase with similar meaning and slightly more negative connotation is "''face the music''". THE TALE IN MUSIC
album references the Pied Piper.
THE TALE IN FILM
THE TALE IN CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE
EXTERNAL LINKS
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