Although most of the modern-day fairy tale is a mixture of old folklores, the original versions are much gloomy and darker than the Disney adaptation. Among all these fairy tales, Pied Piper of Hamelin is the one that kept me fascinated for decades.
Postcard "Gruss aus Hameln" featuring the Pied Piper of Hamelin, 1902
For those who never heard of it, here’s a brief summary.
The story is set in 1284 in the town of Hamelin, Lower Saxony, Germany. The town was facing a rat infestation, a piper dressed in multicolored clothing appeared, promised to get rid of the rats in return for payment. The mayor of the town agreed to a sum of 1,000 guilders. The piper accepted and played his pipe to lure the rats into the Weser River, where they all drowned. However, the people of Hamelin then reneged on their promise. The furious piper stormed off, vowing revenge. Then on July 26 of that same year, while the adults were in church, the piper returned and played his pipe. In so doing, one hundred and thirty children followed him out of town and into a cave and were never seen again.
In many different versions of this tale, the location of the disappearing of those children was sometimes Koppelberg Hill or Koppelberg Mountain. In some versions, there’re a few numbers of children left behind and the reason was silty differ. Some early versions of the story didn’t even have rats or Piper in them. But what unusual about the story of Pied Piper is that the key element of those vairy versions remains the same, the exact date of the story and the precise number of missing children. It makes this tale far more likely to be based on a real historical event.
A reconstruction of the window by Hans Dobbertin
Written Record
According to my research from the internet, the earliest mention of the story seems to have been on a stained-glass window placed in the Church of Hamelin c. 1300. The window was destroyed in 1660 but based on the surviving descriptions, a modern reconstruction of the window has been created by historian Hans Dobbertin. It features the colorful figure of the Pied Piper and several figures of children dressed in white. ( img left)
This window is generally considered to have been created in memory of a tragic historical event for the town. Hamelin town records apparently start with this event. The earliest written record is from the town chronicles in an entry from 1384 which reportedly states:
"It is 100 years since our children left."
The Pied Piper's House in 1990.
Also, on the stone facade of the so-called Pied Piper house in Hamelin, a half-timbered private residence dating to 1602 – similar to an even earlier one etched on the building’s window – bears explicit witness to the mystery. The inscription reads:
“A.D. 1284 – on the 26th of June – the day of St John and St Paul – 130 children – born in Hamelin – were led out of the town by a piper wearing multicoloured clothes. After passing the Calvary near the Koppenberg they disappeared forever.”
Although the stone façade dates from 1602, the building itself is much older. The façade was built for Mayor Hermann Arendes by the architects Johann Hundertossen and/or Eberhard Wilkening in the style of the Renaissance. The picture dated 1900 shows the adjacent legendary "Street without Music" with a view of buildings that no longer stand today. The stone structure pictured to the left of the Pied Piper's House is also no longer in existence.
Theories and hypothesis
There’re many theories and hypothesis behind the story, from the rat representing the black death or plague; to the children who were sold to a recruiter from the Baltic region of Eastern Europe, a practice that was not uncommon at the time; to the Pied Piper been likened to Nicholas of Cologne, who in 1212 led thousands of German children on the ill-fated Children’s Crusade; to the pagan midsummer celebrations Shaman hypothesis, due to the date of the children disappeared is also the date of pagan midsummer celebrations, some suggested it might be a cover story of a bloody massacred caused by local religion conflict between Christianity and Paganism.
As a kid, I was fascinated by the magical power of the Piper and wondered what kind of tune he played. Then when I grew up a little, I took the perspective of the missing children, I kinda envy them and thinking they’re better off from this town to some magical land, away from the adults who can’t keep a simple promise. But now, after had some understanding of how twisted our so-called real history could be, which mostly were written by the successors and some of the truth can never be found or forever lost, I started having an unsettling feeling in my stomach toward this fairy tale.
First of all, why the records of the event are so vague? If it was caused by war, plague, or natural disaster, there’s no reason to hide, plus I can’t think of any of these causes that will only affect children.
Secondly, children don't just leave home voluntarily, children can only be lead / sent away. 130 children is also not a small number, in order to let go of this many children, the parents must be given a good reason or force by an extremely strong force. From Hameln's town records, 'It is 100 years since our children left.' sounds like written by people who‘re still in deep mourning, but at the same time unable to be completely open about what exactly happened, as if the children just took off by themselves, which is very unlikely.
Among all the hypotheses, I’m very much lean toward the child emigration theory. It could be a remaining trace of a traumatized event in which the adults in the town of Hamelin, willing or not, decided to do to let go of their 130 children in a desperate situation ( could be famine, war, or plague ) in return for temporary stability. It was not rare in history that children and the old were first to be sacrificed during a famine. Or, it could be some financial exchange was provided by a third party - represented by the piper, in return for recruiting the man power they require. It can be the adults were actually believed that the children were off to a good land but only learned by the escaped few that all the children end up in slavery or dead during the war. This kind of explained in some versions, why there’re some lame children left behind, that only the healthy ones would be capable of human labor.
I believe the people of Hamelin were traumatized by this tragic event, however, the truth then forever removed from the official record by the authorities ( what the mayor represents) for a political and moral reason. People were also bound by this collective sin, they would like to moring for the kids but forbid by authority and inner guilt to speak about it. Maybe that’s why only a few vague oral records remain. The fact that the Hamelin street named Bungelosenstrasse ("street without drums") is believed to be the last place that the children were seen, ever since music or dancing is not allowed on this street can support my guess in some way. But we all know how the detail can be lost, interpreted, and tangles with other elements throughout history. Hundreds of years later, it becomes the tale of Pied Piper of Hamelin as we have known it today.
I started this drawing inspired by the Pied Piper of Hamelin last year. I was experimenting with some new illustration styles, so I studied the style of the Russian Art Nouveau illustrator, Ivan Bilibin. It has got so many details in it, I’ve been working on and off on this drawing for a few months can never finish it till last week. The children and piper were addressed as a shadowy ghost reflection in the river outside the town of Hemline, as grim as my thought on the tale of Pied Piper of Hamelin.