The Origin Of The Tale

The Pied Piper Of Hamelin ,also known as Rattenfänger von Hameln in German, is a myth in the town of Hamelin, Lowe Saxony, Germany .In the period of the middle age regarding the disappearance and or death of a large number of children.The story may reflect a historical story of which the town of Hamelin lost its children.It has been theorized that the pied piper is a symbol of the children's death possibly due to the black plague or a major catastrophe. There are also many other theory suggesting otherwise, but the current theory which is accepted by scholars and historian is that the disappearance of the children are because they have depart the town of Hamelin the Ostsiedlung, also known as the German Eastward Expansion. In which the germans left their home to colonize Eastern Europe.

The Myth

In 1284,In this period of time the town of Hamelin was plague by rat infestation.Then there comes a day where a man arrive in the town.This man dress in Pied clothing appeared,claiming to be a rat catcher.The man promised the mayor of a solution to their rat problem.In return the mayor promised to pay a man for the removal of the rat.The man accept, and played his magical pipe which mesmerize the rats and lead them to the Weser River in which all of them but one drown.Despite the completion of his task,the mayor of the town went back on his word and refused to pay the full amount of what he promised.Enrage,the piper leaves the town ,but vows that he will return to take his revenge.On Saint Paul and John's Day while the townspeople were in the church,he return this time clad in green,like a hunter and playing his flute but this time attracting the children of Hamelin.One hundred and thirty boys and girls followed him out of the town where he lead them into a cave,never to be seen again

Variation Of The Myth

As the story of the pied piper spread,it has been retold and rewritten into various other version.And depending on the version,the would be at least up to three of the children would get left behind.One of the children was lame and because of that he wasn't able to keep up with the other children.Another one was deaf and only followed the other children out of curiosity,and the last one was blind so even though he could hear the song of the piper,he couldn't follow the other children.In another variation of the story,the piper would lead the children up to the top of Koppelberg hill,where he took them to a beautiful land and had his wicked ways with them.Other variation also has the piper leading the children to the Weser River,where he drown them in the same manor he did to the rats.There is also one where the piper returned the children after the townspeople pay him or that he returned the children after being paid several times the amount originally promised to him

Appearance in Popular Culture

The pied piper was animated in the 1933 adaptation of Walt 
Disney's Silly Symphonies short.

















In 1945 an adaptation was made as an animated swing symphony version of the pied piper made by Walter Lantz Production called The Pied Piper of Basin Street.

The Pied Piper Of Hamelin was a musical in color made for television in 1957.

In 1972 a film called The Pied Piper was produced which had a dark and realistic tone, with music from Donovan,who also plays the titular role

The Pied Piper is a 1986 Czechoslovak stop-motion animated feature film directed by Jiri Barta, notable for its unusual dark art direction

In 2000 a direct to video cartoon called It's The Pied Piper,Charlie Brown was made.In the special, Charlie tells Sally a less scary version of the tale  of the pied piper

In the 2010 animated film Shrek Ever After, The pied piper appear as a character who was hired by the main villian to use his music to stop the rebeling ogres

The Warner Bros cartoons have occasionally reference the story of the pied piper.Pied Piper Porky cast porky in the role of the piper.Probably the most famous one would be Sylvester taking the role of the piper in the animation The Pied Piper Of Guadalupe.

The Piper Piper appears as an antagonist to the anime Problem Children are Coming from Another World, aren't they?

In the 2011 episode of Grimm,the Pied Piper was re-imagined into a teenage music prodigy who is also a famous underground DJ name 
Retchid Kat.

In the season 3 of Once Upon A Time, Peter Pan was a name given to Peter Pan where he attract a the children of a close by village to join the lost boys.

In the poem The One Who Stayed, tells the story of the child who stayed behind while the other children followed the piper out of the village

The Ratastrophe Catastrophe which was written in 1990 is a parody based on the piper where a boy named Diek who takes children away from a town because of a voice in his head told him to.

In 2000, a book named After Hamelin was made written in the point of view of the deaf child named Penelope who was left behind in Hamelin

In 2001, a book was written which was named The Amazing Maurice And His Educated Rats which portray the Pied Piper in a humorous ways.

In 2005,A father-son writing team,published The Rat Of The Hamelin in which the eighteen years old pied piper face an enemy with powers similar to his own.

Pay The Piper:A Rock N Roll Fairy Tale tells the story of the pied piper in an urban fantasy setting.

I do not own any of the picture in this post.