Evening star., 1935-10-06
The Pied Piper
of Hamelin
BY Frederic ]. Haskin.

of the Pied Piper of Hamelin as pure
legend. 1t is, perhaps, true that it is no
more than legend. But it cannot fail
to impress so impressionable a people as
the Americans to realize that, to the
people of Hamelin, the Pied Piper is every
bit as real as Barbara Fritchie is to lis.
Moreover, the Pied Piper is now regarded
as sort of lesser saint who made the
German city'S fame enduring.
1t is indubitably true that the fame
Of many great men rests upon the skill
and enthusiasm with which their deeds
were reported. 1t is beyond question that
no one but few odd antiquarians would
ever have heard of Paul Revere had it
not been for Reporter Longfellow. One
can go through long list of worthless
and discover that some reporter, in song
or story, had made their exploits known
to world which, otherwise, would have
been ignorant of them.
The Western World, for the most part,
unquestionably has its knowledge of the
Pied Piper of Hamelin from the poem
of the reporter, Robert Browning. Every
school child knows the tale Of that Piper.
But Browning was a Victorian and
modern in point of time. Actually, the
legend of the Piper was SO well grounded
that the people of Hamelin were IA
miliar with it long before Browning
was born.
The point of principal interest today
Is that Hamelin thinks so much OF the
Piper who gave it fame that it, annually,
celebrates the event and throughout the
year is conscious of the whole extraordi-
nary story. There have just been con-
cluded at Hamelin this Summers series
of pageants, celebrating the preternat-
ural Piper.
Hamefn is a small city, situated at
the confluence of the Weser and the
Hamel Rivers in Hanover, German
province. The legend is so familiar that
its outline need only be sketched. 1t
is to the effect that great plague Of
rats afflicted the city as the plaques OF
Egypt afflicted that country in earlier
times There came to the burgherS of
the city strange man. Piper, who
compounded with them that he would
lead the millions of rodents down to the
Weser, where they would plunge in and
be drowned. The burgherS accepted his
terms of payment for this signal service
and he performed the miracle. There
upon, the burghers declined payment on
the ground that he was a sorcerer and
that no Christian people should be bound
to keep a promise to him. On that, the
Piper marched through the streets, play
ing tune so alluring that all the chill
dren of the city fell in behind him and
followed him as he marched. He led
them out of the city and into a door or
cave which mysteriously opened in the
hill of Koppelburg. The children never
returned.
The Rat Motif.
Today Hamelin displays to the visitor
many memoirs of the strange occasion.
There is a house which. tradition says,
was occupied by the Piper-in spite of
the fact that the legend says he appeared
from nowhere in the first place. This
house is covered with mural freScoeS
commemorating the famous exploit. But
it is not only this houSe-much OF the
architecture of the town carries the rat
motif. There are sculptures in bas-relief
Of rats and of the Piper Set in the wall
of one building there is one of those
strange mechanical clocks which Ger
mans have always loved to construct.
AS the hours strike. a miniature me-
chanically operated Pied Piper steps out
and marches around the clock, playing
and followed by a horde of tiny rats.
Lintels and pediments are carved with
the likeness of the Pied Piper and.
more especially, the rats. During the
pageantry season, which lasts about all
Summer. the facadeS of buildings are
decorated-if that is the proper word
with large effigies of rats, some Of them
as long as a man.
The pageants, performed every Mon
day and Wednesday, are led by man
dressed in the harlequin garb of the
Pied Piper and children, in medieval
dress, follow him through the streets as
he pipes Many of the children look
just as rapt, as he plays. as the originals
are supposed to have been. Piping is
an alive art in Germany At a great
festival at London last Spring, there
were piperS from this very section en-
gaging in piping contests with pipers
from other lands, from Switzerland to
Scotland.
Perhaps most remarkable of all is the
fact that, during the pageantry season
each year. the bakers of the town all
make a sort of roll or bun in the shape
and likeness of rats. Indeed, the rat
seems to be more celebrated than the
Piper. These comestibles are called rat
loaves and, presumably as combination
of advertising and adornment, are draped
in festoonS outside bakers shops.
Possible Sources of Legend.
The date of the children'S exodus is
doubtful. There is extant at Hamelin a
stone which once was part of the
Neuen Tor, one of the gates of the city
when Hamelin was a walled city. This
stone says that, 272 years before, the
incident of the Pied Piper had taken
place. But confusion arises from the
circumstance that there are two dates
on the stone. One is 1881 and the other
1856 so figuring 272 years back from
those dates gives different results. 1t
is an interesting clue to the possible
origin of the legend that. if you figure
272 years back from the latter date, you
come to the year in which Hamelin lost
the flower of its young manhood in a
battle against the forces of the Bishop
of Minden.
General opinion, however, is to the
effect that the legend springs from the
Childrens Crusade. In 1912 lad named
Nicholas, inspired by we know not what
curious instruction raised the Children's
Crusade. He preached that the holy
land had not been taken and the holy
sepulchre wrested from the Paynims be-
cause the attempt had been made by
men who had sinned. Only innocents,
he preached. could be successful. The
historical and painful fact is that the
lad Nicholas did succeed in leading some
10000 children of the region which now
is Germany over the Alps and down the
Il