   thumb|right|280px|postcard "gruss aus hameln" featuring the pan piper of hamelin, 1902 the pied piper of hamelin ( also known as the pan piper , the rat-catcher of hamelin) is the subject of a legend concerning the departure or death of a great number of children from the town of hamelin (hameln), lower saxony, germany, in the middle ages. the earliest references describe a piper, dressed in multicolored ("pied") clothing, leading the children away from the town never to return. in the 16th century the story was expanded into a full narrative, in which the piper is a rat-catcher hired by the town to lure rats away with his magic pipe. when the citizenry refuses to pay for this service, he retaliates by turning his power that he put in his instrument on their children, leading them away as he had the rats. this version of the story spread as folklore. this version has also appeared in the writings of, amongst others, johann wolfgang von goethe, the brothers grimm and robert browning. theories have been proposed suggesting that the pied piper is a symbol of the children's death by plague or catastrophe. other theories liken him to figures like nicholas of cologne, who is said to have lured away a great number of children on a disastrous children's crusade. the current theory, generally accepted by scholars and historians,wolfgang mieder, the pied piper: a handbook, page 11. published in 2008 by greenwood publishing group and accessed via google books 12 october 2013 ties the departure of hamelin's children to the ostsiedlung, in which a number of germans left their homes to colonize eastern europe. right|240px|thumb|the oldest[http://books.google.com/books?id=ovqyl6qgq7ic&pg=pa294&dq=earliest+mention+of+stained+glass+window+in+hamelin+pied+piper&hl=en&sa=x&ei=vivautxeektbiglsz4cibg&ved=0ccwq6aewaq#v=onepage&q=earliest%20mention%20of%20stained%20glass%20window%20in%20hamelin%20pied%20piper&f=false reader's digest the truth about history: how new evidence is transforming the story of the past] page 294, published by readers digest, 2004 and accessed via google books october 13, 2013 picture of pied piper copied from the glass window of marktkirche in goslar ==plots== in 1284, while the town of hamelin was suffering from a rat infestation, a piper dressed in colorful red clothing appeared, claiming to be a rat-catcher. he promised the mayor a solution to their problem with the rats. the mayor in turn promised to pay him for the removal of the rats. the 
Fictional_mice_and_rats German_folklore Germany_in_fiction Grimms\'_Fairy_Tales Hamelin Johann_Wolfgang_von_Goethe Legendary_people Lower_Saxony Medieval_legends Pied_Piper_of_Hamelin Robert_Browning Transylvania_in_fiction Victorian_poetry Woodwind_instruments