Pied Piper

• The children fell victim to an accident, either drowning in the river Weser or being buried in a Landslide .


• The children contracted some disease during an Epidemic and were led out of town to die in order to protect the rest of the city's population from contracting it.


• ---An early form of Black Death has been suggested.


• ---Others attribute the Dancing of the children to be an early reference to Huntington's Disease ; however, this is an inherited disorder, and the statistical probability of that many unrelated children having the same genetic condition is very low.


• ---Another possibility would be the outbreaks of Chorea , or communal dancing mania, which are recorded in a number of European towns during the period of general distress which followed the Black Death. The 'Verstegan/Browning' date, 1376 , would be consistent with this. These theories perceive the Piper as a symbolic figure of Death . Death is often portrayed dressed in motley, or "pied." Analogous themes which are associated with this theory include the Dance Of Death , ''Totentanz'' or ''Danse Macabre'', a common medieval type. Various ecstatic outbreaks were associated with the Plague, such as the Flagellants , who wandered from place to place while scourging themselves in penance for sins that presumably brought the plague upon Europe. The rat is the preferred host for the plague vector, the rat flea. When the rats die, the fleas seek humans as a substitute host. Children might be especially vulnerable to the disease.

• The children left the city to be part of a Pilgrimage , a Military Campaign , or even a new Children's Crusade (which occurred in 1212, not long before) but never returned to their parents. These theories see the unnamed Piper as their leader or a recruiting agent.


• The children willingly abandoned their parents and Hamelin in order to become the founders of their own villages during the Colonization Of Eastern Europe . Several European villages and cities founded around this time have been suggested as the result of their efforts as settlers. This claim is supported by corresponding placenames in both the region around Hamelin and the eastern colonies where names such as ''Querhameln'' ("mill village Hamelin") exist. Again the Piper is seen as their leader.


• There have also been stories that a few months after the disappearance of the children, in a forest nearby there were bodies of children found underneath the trees. Meaning the Pied Piper could actually have been a real person who killed the children.

''Anno 1284 am dage Johannis et Pauli''

''war der 26. junii''

''Dorch einen piper mit allerlei farve bekledet''

''gewesen CXXX kinder verledet binnen Hamelen gebo {Link without Title} n''

''to calvarie bi den koppen verloren''

In the year of 1284, on the day of Saints John And Paul

on the 26^th of June

130 children born in Hamelin were seduced

By a piper, dressed in all kinds of colors,

and lost at the place of execution near the ''koppen''.

“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.”

• The military interpretation of the Pied Piper story is used as a Foreshadowing device in '' Rainbow Valley '' (1919) by Lucy Maud Montgomery . The story is told on two occasions by young Walter Blythe, son of Anne Of Green Gables , who will later be called to fight in World War I , and fall in the Battle Of The Somme (1916) .


• The Pied Piper story is heavily referenced by the Russia n poet Marina Tsvetaeva in her poem ''The Ratcatcher'', first published in 1925 .


• The story provides the basis for the central plot and several characters in the 1998 debut Novel '' King Rat '' by China Miéville .


• ''Breath'' by Donna Jo Napoli tells the tale from the point of view of the lame child left behind when the Piper takes the children into the mountain.


• Eric Frank Russell 's short story "The Rhythm of the Rats", published in the July 1950 issue of '' Weird Tales '', is a retelling of the Pied Piper legend as a 20th century Horror story.


• Harlan Ellison 's "Emissary from Hamelin" tells of a descendent of the original pied piper coming back seven hundred years later to lead all the adults away as punishment for centuries of "making the world a bad place". While the piper does not explain what he means, the narrator understands this to mean violence, pollution, lying, crime, and a lack of empathy.


• '' After Hamelin '' by Bill Richardson is a unique story that picks up the story where Browning's poem left off. It is written in the voice of the deaf child in the poem, whom Richardson names Penelope.


• Michael Moorcock produces his own theory of the Hamelin tale in his book, '' The Dreamthief's Daughter '', where the cavern that the children escape into is actually a secret entrance to the Mittelmarch .


• The Ratastrophe Catastrophe by David Lee Stone is a parody based on the Pied Piper about a boy called Diek who takes away the children of a town because a voice in his head told him to.


• In his poem, "The One Who Stayed," Shel Silverstein tells the story of a kid who stayed behind while the rest of Hamlin's children followed the piper's song. ("Where the Sidewalk Ends")


• In the fifth book of The Dark Tower Series, Wolves Of The Calla , by Stephen King , the town robot Andy leads the children through the town playing a song, and a reference is made to the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Andy turns out to be the one helping the Wolves take the children away.


• Terry Pratchett 's '' The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rodents '' is a humorous take on the Pied Piper. A talking cat engineers the plagues (and subsequent removals by his sidekick piper). The story Lampoon s the fairy tale conventions of the original tale while providing thoughtful commentary on the motives that drive people to act as they do in the real world.


• German author Wolfgang Hohlbein uses the Pied Piper as a secondary antagonist (as the slave of a demon) in his fantasy novel ''Dreizehn'' ("Thirteen").


• In 2005 , children's author fairy tale.


• 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.


• What Happened In Hamelin (1993) by Gloria Skurzynski is a young adult novel in which ergotism from contaminated rye crops helps explain the mystery of what happened there


• An allusion to the folk tale appears in the poem The Drunk In The Furnace by W. S. Merwin . Children "flock like piped rats" to the noises of a drunk in a furnace while their parents are at church.


• The Piper is also mentioned As An Antagonist in Garth Nix 's series, the '' Keys To The Kingdom ''.


• In the Mary Higgins Clark novel " Two Little Girls In Blue ", the main antagonist is until the end referred to as the Pied Piper, for his plot involves the kidnapping of a pair of twin children.


• In the Diana Jo Napoli novel " Breath " the main antagonist, Sal, is the lame boy who did not catch up with the pied piper.


• In Beverly Cleary 's children's novel Ellen Tebbits , the school puts on a version of the story, in which the Pied Piper brings the children back. Ellen says that her mother had not said the piper brought the children back, but the teacher called it a "creative" play. Ellen got a part in the play as a "substitute rat," and that was the title of that chapter in the book.

• The 2006 DVD version "O Flautista", choreographer by Iolanda Rodrigues, dance show performed by CeDeCe - Companhia de Danca Contemporanea. This dvd was directed by Joao Tocha.


• In the play '' The Pillowman '', the main character had written a story explaining the origin of the lame child who could not follow the Piper. He claimed that it was the Piper himself who chopped off the child's toes, because the child had showed him kindness, and the Piper did not want to punish the child.


• A musical entitled ''The Pied Piper of Hamelin'', written and composed by Harvey Shield and Richard Jarbot, was produced and performed at the Olio Theater in Los Angeles in 1984; the original title was ''1284'', the year in which the actual Pied Piper visited Hamelin. A recording of the soundtrack was released in 1984 on Panda Digital with Harvey Shield, John Mostetter, Jodi Mitchell, J.D. Ellis, Joey Sheck, Susan Holmes, Del Appleby and Lesley Sachs.


• An opera entitled ''The Piper of Hamelin'', written and composed by Nicolas Flagello in 1970, was performed and recorded live by the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division in March 1999 and released on Newport Classics 60153 . The production was conducted by Jonathan Strasser, and the performers included Bob McGrath of '' Sesame Street '' fame as "The Narrator", Brace Negron as "The Piper", Troy Doney as "The Mayor" and Nicole McQuade as "The First Woman (soloist)". This opera differs in its ending from the Browning poem; while the Piper leads the children from town, he later returns alone and is freely given the promised 1,000 guilders by the distraught and repentant townspeople, and the children are reunited with their parents.


• In 2002, the Ballet '' The Contract (The Pied Piper) '' composed by Michael Torke , Libretto by Robert Sirman and choreographed by James Kudelka was created to celebrate the National Ballet Of Canada 's 50th Anniversary season. Taking as its inspiration the story of the Pied Piper, '' The Contract '' centers its story around the character of "Eva", a charismatic faith healer who is contracted to rid a small community of a mysterious illness that afflicts the town's young people. She succeeds, but when the town's elders find reason to disapprove of her private conduct, they refuse to honor the contract, precipitating an even greater tragedy. In May 2003 , the National Ballet Of Canada Orchestra recorded a CD of Michael Torke 's original music for '' The Contract ''.


• Mark Alburger 's opera, "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" (2004), with a libretto after the Robert Browning poem, was premiered at Thick House Theater in San Francisco (2006), with the Piper in the guise of George W. Bush and the Rats as terrorists.


• Pleasantville, New York's Little Village Playhouse {Link without Title} children's theatre group performed a retelling of the piper story from the point of view of the children, "New Hamelin" (2007). In the musical, the children having been seduced to a cave by the music of the piper, return to their town and vengefully kill their parents for not coming to their rescue. The show was written by director Adam David Cohen and partner Kevin Laub.

• John Corigliano composed ''The Pied Piper Fantasy'' (1979-82), a Concerto for flute and orchestra. The work, by flute virtuoso James Galway , premiered on February 4, 1982 at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles performed by Galway (as the flutist) and the Los Angeles Philharmonic . The World Premiere Recording was recorded December 8th and 9th, 1985 and released on RCA Victor, performed by Galway and the Eastman Philharmonic , conducted by David Effron . Another version is available on Koch International Classics, performed by Alexa Still and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and conducted by James Sedares . ''The Pied Piper Fantasy'' consists of seven parts: 1) Sunrise and The Piper's Song, 2) The Rats, 3) Battle with The Rats, 4) War Cadenza, 5) The Piper's Victory, 6) The Burghers' Chorale, 7) The Children's March.


• Folk singer Donovan , who starred in the 1972 film ''The Pied Piper'' as the title character, recorded the song ''"People Call Me The Pied Piper"'' which was included in his album ''Pied Piper'', released on the Music for Little People label (another version of this song was included in the film).

• The story has been depicted many times on film: 1903 , 1911 , 1913 , 1918 , 1924 , 1926 , 1933 , 1957 , 1972 , 1981 , 1982 and 1985 .


• --- The 1933 version was produced as an animated Walt Disney '' Silly Symphony '' short. Changes to the story include the rats being lured by a mirage of cheese created by the Piper's music and made to disappear into thin air (rather than being drowned in the river), and the children being "rescued" by the Piper from the "slave labor" imposed on them by their parents.


• --- The 1957 Made-for-television film "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" was a musical version in Color , using the music of Edvard Grieg , and starring Van Johnson in the title role. Claude Rains and Jim Backus also star in this film. The dialogue for this film was in rhyme, and included generous chunks of Browning's poem. It was first shown by NBC as a Thanksgiving special, and later Syndicated to local stations. In the early 1960's, it was briefly shown in Theatre s.


• --- The 1972 film ''The Pied Piper'' was not a musical ''per se'', although it contained music by Donovan , who also played the title role. This was an especially dark and realistic version of the tale. The film was directed by Jacques Demy and also starred Jack Wild , Michael Hordern , Donald Pleasance and John Hurt .


• --- A Stop-action " Claymation " half-hour version was made in 1981 in the United Kingdom directed by Mark Hall and narrated by Robert Hardy , following the Browning poem exactly and told within the framework of a story told to a child by a cloaked stranger on a winter's evening outside the church where the Pied Piper's tale is painted on the great church window; after the story is told, the stranger reveals himself to be the Piper, who then vanishes. This version was shown on PBS .


• --- In 1985, Shelley Duvall 's '' Faerie Tale Theatre '' adapted the story in the episode ''The Pied Piper of Hamelin'', written and directed by Nicholas Meyer with original music by James Horner and starring Eric Idle in both the title role and as " Robert Browning ". The story is told within the framework of a subplot in which Robert Browning tries to get a boy named Willie to go to sleep by telling him the story, and emphasizes the morality of always keeping promises. This is probably the closest live-action adaptation of the story to date, with all Browning's poetry kept intact and all the dialogue of the story in rhyme (with some expanding).


• --- The 1985 '' Krysař '' was a Stop-motion film animated by the Trnka Studio in Czechoslovakia and directed by Jiri Barta that used a modified, darker version of the story. It was told entirely without any discernible words.


• Warner Brothers Cartoon star Porky Pig has starred as "The Pied Piper" twice, in the 1939 cartoon ''Pied Piper Porky'' (in which Pied Piper Porky rids Hamelin of all the rats except for one smart-aleck rat that refuses to leave) and in the 1949 cartoon ''Paying The Piper'' (in which the leader of Hamelin's cats, enraged at Pied Piper Porky's putting them out of work, dresses up as a giant rat to prove that Porky didn't get the job done and discredit him).


• The 1961 Warner Brothers cartoon ''The Pied Piper of Guadalupe'' uses Browning's poem as a plot device in which Sylvester the Cat, unable to capture mice the conventional way, reads Browning's poem, dresses up in the traditional Piper's costume (green this time instead of multi-colored) and uses a pipe/flute to hypnotize mice and lure them into being captured until Speedy Gonzales arrives, refuses to be hypnotized and rescues his friends.


• ''''' rats, since Sally is scared of rats), Snoopy is the Pied Piper Beagle (playing a Concertina instead of a pipe!), his bargain with the Mayor is for a year's supply of dog food, and when the bargain is broken he musically bewitches away the Mayor and his officials.


• Nevil Shute 's novel '' Pied Piper '' was set in Nazi -occupied France and was only very loosely connected with the original story. It was filmed as ''The Pied Piper'' in 1942 and 1990 . The 1990 film went directly to U.S. television instead of being shown in American theatres, and was retitled ''Crossing to Freedom'' for its U.S. telecast.


• Atom Egoyan 's 1997 film '' The Sweet Hereafter '' (based on the novel by Russell Banks ) makes extensive metaphorical use of the Pied Piper legend. Browning's poem forms the narration for the film, delivered by a young girl who was crippled in a school bus accident that killed all of the other children in her small Canadian town. The script adds several lines that are not in Browning's poem.


• Katy Towell 's 2006 animated short ''El Despertar'' is based on the "Pied Piper" with a Spanish, darker influence, replacing the rats with zombies.

• An episode of Land Of The Giants entitled "Pay the Piper" posited the Pied Piper as an alien and rather sinister entity, extremely long lived and possessing a constellation of powers the he used to kidnap children all over the galaxy. Jonathan Harris portrayed the Pied Piper.

• Gene Kelly narrated Robert Browning 's poem in a 78rpm recording released in the 1950's on Columbia Records, later re-released in LP format on Harmony Records.


• Decca Records issued a 78rpm recording of the Browning poem read by Ingrid Bergman with music composed and directed by Victor Young .


• Boris Karloff performed a reading of ''The Pied Piper & The Hunting of the Snark'', released on Caedmon Records.


• Radio personality Harry Von Zell narrated the story on the July 21, 1946 broadcast of '' Columbia Workshop ''.


• Keith Baxter is the narrator of ''The Pied Piper and Other Stories'', recorded and released in 1994 by HarperCollins Publishing . Although the title on the cover attributes the story to Hans Christian Andersen , this version of ''The Pied Piper'' is most likely from The Brothers Grimm .


• Anton Lesser reads Browning 's poem in the 1999 Naxos Audiobooks recording of ''The Pied Piper of Hamelin and Other Favorite Poems''.

• In 1967 The song "Ca-na-da" was composed in celebration of Canada's centennial year. Composer Bobby Gimby earned the name Pied Piper of Canada as he commonly would be seen on television playing his horn whilst leading a following group of singing children.


• Minnesota Liberal Arts college Hamline University has ''The Piper'' as its mascot, due to the similarity of names (Hamline/Hamelin).


• The Hamlin Independent School District , serving the town of Hamlin, Texas , also has the Pied Piper as its mascot.


• Operation Pied Piper , the first of a series of evacuations during World War II which moved citizens out of the urbanised regions of Britain.


• The Pied Piper is a supervillain associated with The Flash in the DC Comics Universe . After being cured of deafness, Hartley Rathaway became obsessed with sound and learned to uses a flute to hypnotize his victims. Following the death of Barry Allen, Piper retired from crime and became an ally of Wally West.


• Mr Piper was a famous Canadian children's TV series made in 1962, featuring Canadian opera tenor Alan Crofoot dressed as a Pied Piper, who was telling stories, singing and doing magic.


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• In Extremo have recently put Goethe's verse to music in their song, ''"Der Rattenfänger"'' on their album, ''Sünder ohne Zügel''.


• The band Demons & Wizards 's song The Whistler is based on The Pied Piper


• Megadeth created a song called " Symphony Of Destruction " which refers to the Pied Piper.


• In the game Black & White by Lionhead Studios, a Pied-Piper-like character is seen luring a village's children into a cave. The player must then rescue the children or kill the Piper.


• R Kelly has long referred to himself as The Pied Piper of R&B. In light of his legal troubles involving underaged girls, the name has taken an ironic meaning.


• Mad Magazine artist Sergio Aragonés created a variation on the story, in a multipanel color cartoon on the back of one issue. When the town council refuses to pay the Pied Piper, he uses his flute to draw away not the children, but the Women of Hamelin.


• In the Three Stooges short A Ducking They Did Go , Curly brings a bunch of ducks, marching behind him, to the duck club. Moe asks "Where did you get all the ducks?" Curly says, "Well, you remember the pie-eyed {Link without Title} piper of Hamelin? Well, I figure if he could pipe rats Pie-eyed , I could pipe ducks sober!"


• In the Anime series MÄR , wich features several characters based on fairy tales, a villain called Hamelin is based on The Piper.


• Pied Piper is a song composed by (1976)


• Rapper Eminem references paying the pied piper in his song "Lose Yourself."

• Professor Ashliman of the University of Pittsburg quotes the Grimm's "Children of Hamelin" in full, as well as a number of similar and related legends.


• Linguistics Professor Jonas Kuhn's Pied Piper Page


• Wilson's Almanac article on the Pied Piper of Hamelin


• An 1888 illustrated version of Robert Browning's poem (Illustrated by Kate Greenaway )


• [http://www.kiddierecords.com/2006/archive/week_47.htm Ingrid Bergman reads The Pied Piper of Hamelin]
















• www.triune.de cites the Lueneberg manuscript