The Pied Piper of Hamlin

A legend from the north of Germany

It was in the year 1284 when a strange man came
to Hamlin, a town in Germany. He was wearing a
coat of many colours. That is why he was called
Mr BUNTING,
which means Mr Colourful.
He said he would free the
town from all mice and
rats for a certain sum of
money.
The citizens and the
catcher came to an
agreement and the
citizens promised him
some money.
Then the catcher of the rats took out a pipe and started
whistling. A moment later all the rats and mice came
out of the houses and joined the man.
As soon as all the rats and mice had left the houses the
catcher left the town and all the rats and mice followed
him.

So he led them to the Weser,

a river near the town,
lifted his clothes and
stepped into the water.
All animals followed him, fell into the water and
drowned.
The citizens who were happy they had got
rid of the plague didn’t want to pay the
money they had promised the catcher of the
rats and mice. They had many excuses why
they couldn’t give him the promised money.
Mr Colourful became very angry and left.
But on 26th June at 7 o’clock in the morning he
appeared again in the town now looking like a
hunter. He was wearing a strange hat and he had a
terrible expression on his face. While walking
through the streets he was blowing his pipe.
And soon all girls and
boys of the age of 4 and
older, among them the
Mayor’s daughter, left
their homes and
followed
him. He led them to a
mountain where they all
disappeared.
A nanny with a baby in her
arms had watched all this
from a distance and reported
the story.
The parents ran in huge
numbers to the city gates
and started looking for their
children.
The mothers were crying and
calling for their children. At
once they sent messengers
to all the villages in the
country, but nobody had
seen only a single child. All
in all they had lost 130
children.
 
 It was said that two children were late and had
come back. One of them was blind and couldn’t
show the others the place but remembered that
they had followed the hunter. The other one was
not able to speak but could point out the place
where the children had disappeared.
One boy escaped this destiny because he had
forgotten to put on his coat and wanted to fetch
it. When he came back all the other children had
gone.
 For a long time the street the children had
passed on their way to the cave in the mountain
was called the soundless street because it was not
allowed to play music or dance there.
Even when a bride and bridegroom were
accompanied by a group of musicians to church
they had to stop playing in this street in memory
of the children who had disappeared.
You can still see two stones arranged as a cross at
the Poppenberg Mountain in Hameln where they
say the children disappeared.