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The Pied Piper of Hamelin Part One

The Pied Piper of Hamelin Part One

Astonishing Legends vor 6 Jahren

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In the year 1284 CE, a remarkable and colorfully dressed young
man came to the town of Hamelin in Lower Saxony, Germany.
There are two documentations of this wanderer’s visit, the
originals of which have since been lost. According to the
contemporary Hamelin chronicle and a depiction in a stained glass
window in a local church, this handsome stranger began to play
his flute through the streets. Enchanted by the notes, 130
children from the town followed him into the woods, never to be
seen again. In the hundreds of years since the supposedly
real event occurred, the most significant addition to the story
would be the reason for the mass kidnapping. After
successfully ridding the town of a plague of rats using his
musical pipe, the payment the piper was promised was withheld by
the mayor and the town leaders. Furious at his being
cheated, the magical visitor took their children as his
payment. This later variation of the narrative we have all
come to know as “The Pied Piper of Hamelin.” Today, we may think
of this story as a children’s Fairly Tale. But as the
Brothers Grimm had noted themselves, and who are partly
responsible for making it known to the world, this is a legend
and not a Fairy Tale. The difference is that legends are
considered to be based on actual events, people, and
places. In relation, it’s also said that there is a kernel
of truth to every legend. If that is accurate, then the
real Pied Piper event may be far more mysterious and tragic than
we could have imagined, either as children or adults.

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