History Literature / ThePiedPiperOfHamelin

* AesopCollateralDamage: The children of the town are taken to punish their parents. In the darkest versions, they are drowned just like the rats were.

* RiddleForTheAges: Who (or ''what'') was the Piper? He has been interpreted as a sorcerer, [[{{Satan}} the Devil]], or one of TheFairFolk, but most versions neither discuss nor answer that question.

* DealWithTheDevil: In versions where the Piper is the villain, he demands an unreasonably high payment from the town, which they cannot hope to repay. The Piper then takes the children away to spite them.
* DidNotThinkThisThrough: In the Creator/WalterLantz version, the piper locks the rats in a cage and the Mayor gives him just a bag of beans as payment without considering that the piper might retaliate by releasing the rats, which he eventually does.

* OpportunisticBastard: The interpretation that the Piper tried to take advantage of Hamelin's rat crisis in order to profit for himself, and killing/taking away the children as spite.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: There is evidence that the story as we know it is probably based on an actual historical event regarding children leaving the town of Hamelin. The earliest known written record is from the town chronicles in an entry from 1384, saying: "It is 100 years since our children left." It's not clear whether "children" meant literal children or "children of the land/city" as in "inhabitants". The town also built a stained glass memorial to this event depicting the multicolored piper leading away children. While evidence agrees that the "piper" is based on a real person, there's also a lot of debate over his reasons for taking the kids/people. Popular theories include a crusade, cult, serial killings or (the most favored) colonization[[note]]One of the most popular theories is connected to the ''Ostsiedlung'' or "East Settlement," the Medieval migration of Germans around Central and Eastern Europe, with places in Brandenburg carrying names of places close to Hameln[[/note]].

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: There is evidence that the story as we know it is probably based on an actual historical event regarding children leaving the town of Hamelin. The earliest known written record is from the town chronicles in an entry from 1384, saying: "It is 100 years since our children left." It's not clear whether "children" meant literal children or "children of the land/city" as in inhabitants". The town also built a stained glass memorial to this event depicting the multicolored piper leading away children. While evidence agrees that the "piper" is based on a real person, there's also a lot of debate over his reasons for taking the kids/people. Popular theories include a crusade, cult, serial killings or (the most favored) colonization[[note]]One of the most popular theories is connected to the ''Ostsiedlung'' or "East Settlement," the Medieval migration of Germans around Central and Eastern Europe, with places in Brandenburg carrying names of places close to Hameln[[/note]].

** In the ''Series/FaerieTaleTheatre'' version expanding upon the Robert Browning poem, the lame boy not making it through the portal is ''actually'' because [[spoiler: he was polite to the Piper when the latter first arrived in town; the Piper was ''sparing'' him the fate of the other kids. Unfortunately, the boy never realizes the kindness, believing that there really was a fairyland beyond that portal -- having not understood the Piper's cryptic warning about his ability to weave illusions]].

** There are also versions which split the difference - the Piper does take the kids for good, but he takes them to some sort of {{Utopia}} or fairyland where they'll be happy. In this version the crippled kid who can't keep up gets just a glimpse of it before the door slams shut.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: There is evidence that the story as we know it is probably based on an actual historical event regarding children leaving the town of Hamelin. The earliest known written record is from the town chronicles in an entry from 1384, saying: "It is 100 years since our children left." This serves as our first considerable debate over what is actually meant by 'children' as to whether they actually meant children or the 'children of the land/city' as in 'inhabitants'. The town also built a stained glass memorial to this event depicting the multicolored piper leading away children. While unified in that there was somewhat of a real piper there is also high debate over his reasons for taking the kids/people. Some of the bigger theories including a crusade, cult, serial killer or (the most favored) colonization[[note]]One of the most popular theories is connected to the Ostsiedlung with places in Brandenburg carrying names of places close to Hameln[[/note]].
** The addition to the rat element of the story doesn't seem to appear in current known evidence until the 1500s. Leading most except perhaps the most fanciful believers to believe that the real Pied Piper had nothing to do with rats at all.

** There is historical evidence that at some point there were lots of young people -- not really children, but teenagers -- leaving Hamelin because of bad prospects of being able to make a living in their hometown. That said, this isn't very likely to be the explanation, as migration wasn't unheard of even during the medieval times and it certainly wouldn't have been noteworthy enough for the town to make note of their leave over a hundred years later (the wording also clearly indicates the children didn't leave of their own accord nor did they know of their decision to leave Hamlin).

In 1284, while the town of Hamelin in Lower Saxony, Germany was suffering from a rat infestation, a man (sometimes described as looking rather like an elderly woman) dressed in pied (meaning multi-colored or clownish, rather than [[PieInTheFace pastries to the face]]) clothing appeared, claiming to be a rat catcher. The townsmen then promised to pay him for the removal of the rats. The man accepted, and played a musical pipe to lure the rats via song into the Weser River, where all of them were drowned. Despite his success, the people reneged on their promise and refused to pay him (or offered to pay him a very measly amount of money, depending on the version). The man left the town angrily, but vowed to return some time later, seeking revenge. On Saint John and Paul's day while the inhabitants were in church, the piper returned and played his pipe yet 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 never seen again [[note]] Or coming out in Siebenbürgen/Transilvania[[/note]]. Depending on the version, at most three children remained behind (one was lame and could not follow quickly enough, one was deaf and followed the other children out of curiosity, and the last was blind and unable to see where they were going) who informed the townspeople of what had happened when they came out of the church.

* MagicalFlutist: The title character is this.
* MagicMusic: The Robert Browning version goes into specific detail as to its nature -- the music "speaks" to its targets and tells them that if they follow the Piper, they'll be led to whatever their idea of Paradise is.

* SwarmOfRats: Ur-Example of the SwarmOfRats in fiction.

* VillainousHarlequin: The Piper is almost always described as wearing unusual clothes, often those of a jester.

Ideas and images from the story crop up in countless other places too. Among the many homages is ''Peter and Max'' by Bill Willingham, of the celebrated comic book ''Comicbook/{{Fables}}'', which frames the Piper as a sociopath, enveloped with otherworldly powers when he abandoned humanity, the children being payment for the powers he was given, while Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents'' plays with the story in multiple ways. The ''Series/LandOfTheGiants'' episode "Pay the Piper" portrays him as a shape-shifting alien who's been playing his trade across the universe for centuries. Also, ''The Dying of the Light'', an adventure for the first edition of ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'' has a sub-plot involving a very uncanny piper and a lot of rats.

Ideas and images from the story crop up in countless other places too. Among the many homages is ''Peter and Max'' by Bill Willingham, of the celebrated comic book ''Comicbook/{{Fables}}'', which frames the Piper as a sociopath, enveloped with otherworldly powers when he abandoned humanity, the children being payment for the powers he was given, while Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents'' plays with the story in multiple ways. Also, ''The Dying of the Light'', an adventure for the first edition of ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'' has a sub-plot involving a very uncanny piper and a lot of rats.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: In one of the oldest versions of the legend (the ''Zimmern Chronicle''), the town refuses to pay the piper the enormous amount they promised because they assumed getting rid of all the rats would be a difficult job, but he did it with no effort at all thanks to magic they never knew he had. The town has a point that he tricked them into agreeing to pay a disproportionate amount for something that it turned out took very little effort, but the piper has a point that, regardless, they had a deal.

** There is historical evidence that at some point there were lots of young people -- not really children, but teenagers -- leaving Hamelin because of bad prospects of being able to make a living in their hometown. That said, this isn't very likely to be the explanation, as migration wasn't unheard of even during the medieval times and it certainly wouldn't have been noteworthy enough for the town to make note of their leave over a hundred years later (the wording also clearly indicates the children didn't leave of their own accord nor did they know of it).

** There is historical evidence that at some point there were lots of young people -- not really children, but teenagers -- leaving Hamelin because of bad prospects of being able to make a living in their hometown.

* AdultFear: An eccentric stranger lures children to go with him, never to be seen again.
** Alternately, you stiff someone on a job without expecting he can retaliate -- but instead of punishing you, [[RevengeByProxy he punishes your CHILDREN]].

* RevengeByProxy: Some versions of the story have this be the Piper's reason for taking away the children.

** There is historical evidence that at some point there were lots of young people - not really children but teenagers leaving Hamelin because of bad prospects of being able to make a living in their hometown.

* TheSpook: While the Piper himself is historically alluded to, nobody knows ''who the hell'' he was, where he came from, how he was able to lure the rats away (if indeed that element of the story is true, which is hotly debated) or even scarier how he lured the children away and what he did with them. Interestingly, there is also no record anywhere else in the world ''(even the rest of Germany)'' of someone of this description (probably why so many people thought the story was just a fairy tale for so long), so we also have ''no idea'' where he went after the incident in Hamelin. Considering this story is from [[TheFogOfAges 1284 AD and the story has so many interpretations and variations,]] we'll likely never know for sure.

* UndeadAuthor: Averts this by having at least one kid unable to follow the Piper.

''The Pied Piper of Hamelin'' is a classic fairy tale/folk legend frequently referenced in other works and media. Although (like most fairy tales) there are various versions, the basic story is as follows:

In 1284, while the town of Hamelin was suffering from a rat infestation, a man (sometimes described as looking rather like an elderly woman) dressed in pied (meaning multi-colored or clownish, rather than [[PieInTheFace pastries to the face]]) clothing appeared, claiming to be a rat catcher. The townsmen then promised to pay him for the removal of the rats. The man accepted, and played a musical pipe to lure the rats via song into the Weser River, where all of them were drowned. Despite his success, the people reneged on their promise and refused to pay him (or offered to pay him a very measly amount of money, depending on the version). The man left the town angrily, but vowed to return some time later, seeking revenge. On Saint John and Paul's day while the inhabitants were in church, the piper returned and played his pipe yet 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 never seen again [[note]] Or coming out in Siebenbürgen/Transilvania[[/note]]. Depending on the version, at most three children remained behind (one was lame and could not follow quickly enough, one was deaf and followed the other children out of curiosity, and the last was blind and unable to see where they were going) who informed the townspeople of what had happened when they came out of the church.

The best-known telling of the story in English is Creator/RobertBrowning's [[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Pied_Piper_of_Hamelin_%28Browning%29 1842 ballad]], which has had several media adaptations, including one of Creator/{{Disney}}'s ''WesternAnimation/SillySymphonies'' shorts (1933), a live action Technicolor [[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050842/ feature]] (in rhyming verse) starring Van Johnson and Claude Rains (1957), Creator/CosgroveHall stop-motion short (1981), and an episode of ''Series/FaerieTaleTheatre'' (1985). Other popular reference points for the story are the Creator/BrothersGrimm's [[http://www.hameln.com/tourism/piedpiper/rf_sage_gb.htm "The Children of Hameln"]] (1816) and Creator/AndrewLang's [[http://www.classicreader.com/book/924/20/ "The Ratcatcher"]] (1890).

** Averted in the Russell Brand version: He spirits away the rotten children who live in the town itself, leaving behind the kind lame boy. But just outside of the town is a home for all the "defective" children the adults banish, which goes untouched. As the adults realize what their evil ways led to, by way of starting over these children are accepted back into the community, and eventually it becomes something of a utopia, with the lame boy now its mayor.

* DisabilityImmunity: In some versions, there is a deaf child that is immune to the Piper's tune and/or a crippled child who tries to follow the Piper but is unable to keep up, so they stay behind when the other children disappear into the mountain.

** There are adaptations, including the Silly Symphonies Disney version, that change the DownerEnding to a HappyEnding. Generally, either the adults reform and the kids are returned or the kids are actually better off following him. Interestingly, the latter option can also be used in DarkerAndEdgier versions (i.e., the town is ''just that bad'').

** There are also versions which split the difference - the Piper does take the kids for good, but he takes them to some sort of {{utopia}} or fairyland where they'll be happy. In this version the crippled kid who can't keep up gets just a glimpse of it before the door slams shut.
** There is a ''Franchise/{{Peanuts}}'' version where the Piper is played by Snoopy with a few minor differences, an accordian instead of a flute, mice instead of rats, dog food instead of money, and a mayor instead of a king. The biggest difference is instead of taking the children (who were already on his side), he takes the mayor and his council to the middle of nowhere, which can be more justified as they were the ones that broke the promise.

* DownerEnding: In some variants the children resurface in Transylvania, in others they are gone for good. In any case, they never returned to Hamelin and their parents.

* ExactWords: In one version, the mayor agrees to pay one schilling a head. When the piper claims his fee, the mayor demands he show the heads. The piper, after being offered a meager sum instead, declares he'll be paid by the town's heirs. The townsfolk think this is a great joke...
* TheFairFolk: An inscrutible, capricious magical entity who reacts badly to being ill-treated and kidnaps children? Yep. The Piper fits the bill.

* JustJokingJustification: In some tellings of the story, the townspeople claim they were just joking about paying the Piper's full fee. This works out poorly. In some LighterAndSofter retellings, it is the Piper that commits this, and releases the children when the townspeople repent.

* MagicMusic: The Robert Browning version goes into specific detail as to its nature -- the music "speaks" to its targets and tells them that if they follow the Piper, they'll be led to whatever their particular idea of Paradise is.

* PainfulRhyme: Browning's poem ends with an attempted rhyme of "from mice" and "promise."

* UnderestimatingBadassery: In the Robert Browning version, the Mayor and Corporation's (his advisors) decision to renege on their promise to pay the Piper the agreed-upon fee involves this. Since the rats were drowned and "What's dead can't come back to life", there's nothing the Piper (a wanderer whom they regard as beneath them) can do in retaliation for the promise being broken. He warns them that he can use his music as an instrument (so to speak) of revenge, but they don't take the threat seriously and effectively dare him to try it...
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: There is evidence that the story as we know it, is probably based on an actual historical event regarding children leaving the town of Hamelin. The earliest known written record is from the town chronicles in an entry from 1384, saying: "It is 100 years since our children left." This serves as our first considerable debate over what is actually meant by 'children' as to whether they actually meant children or the 'children of the land/city' as in 'inhabitants'. The town also built a stained glass memorial to this event depicting the multicolored piper leading away children. While unified in that there was somewhat of a real piper there is also high debate over his reasons for taking the kids/people. Some of the bigger theories including a crusade, cult, serial killer or (the most favored) colonization[[note]]One of the most popular theories is connected to the Ostsiedlung with places in Brandenburg carrying names of places close to Hameln[[/note]].

The basic storyline has inspired a variety of adaptations/retellings, such as the Grim Fairy Tales graphic novel ''The Piper'' (which expands upon the story), Creator/JacquesDemy's 1972 film ''The Pied Piper'', and such YoungAdultLiterature as Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple's ''Pay the Piper'' (in which the Piper is the leader of a rock band) and Donna Jo Napoli's ''Breath'' (told from the lame child's point of view). Even Creator/RussellBrand retold it (with hefty doses of ToiletHumor and BlackComedy) in the 2014 book ''Trickster Tales -- The Pied Piper of Hamelin''.

Although the origin of the phrase is disputed, it is likely that this story is connected to the use of the phrase "pay the piper" to refer to suffering the consequences of wrongdoing. In the story, the townspeople tried to cheat the piper out of his pay and later had to "pay the piper" when his vengeance took their children away from them. On the other hand, the expression "He who pays the piper calls the tune" implies an unrelated or inverted moral -- whoever ''does'' pay the agreed rate for an employee is entitled to direct their work. The common factor, though, is that pipers expect to be paid.

* AnAesop: The common phrase, "time to pay the piper" is said to derive from this story. In a way, the story is a brutal allegory for what tends to happen to people who try to weasel their way out of an agreement or contract.

* BasedOnATrueStory: Yes, really. While no one is exactly certain what happened to 130 of Hamelin's children on June 26th, 1284, historical records certainly suggest ''something'' drew them away. Who, or what, that something was remains a matter of historical speculation. One thing can be said, whoever did it wasn't a gypped magician. There are no mention of rats in the original story, just kidnapped children. Today, the street in Hamelin in which the children were last seen is called Bungelosenstrasse, "the street without drums", because no music is allowed there.