Below is an excerpt from the famous Grimm
brothers version of the very famous tale of the Pied Piper in which
the small German town of Hamelin loses all of its children to the
Piper when the mayor refuses to pay him for ridding the town of
rats.
“The long procession of children soon left the town and made its way
through the wood and across the forest till it reached the foot of a
huge mountain. When the piper came to the dark rock, he played his
pipe even louder still and a great door creaked open. Beyond lay a
cave. In trooped the children behind the pied piper, and when the
last child had gone into the darkness, the door creaked shut.”
Here is a quote from the wall of the Piper’s House in Hamelin today:
“In the year of 1284, on the day of Saints John and Paul, the 26th
of June, 130 children born in Hamelin were seduced by a piper,
dressed in all kinds of colors, and lost at the calvary near the
koppen.”
The story is largely true, with some exaggerated parts. Many
theories abound as to the factual events of that day, but the most
logical seems to be that the piper represents death (death was
depicted as a skeleton wearing pied clothing in the middle ages) and
that the children who died were killed by the plague.
Pied means 'having two or more colors'. The word comes from middle
English and is taken from the word “magpie.” Thus, the pied piper
was a man wearing clothing of many colors.