1284, while the town of Hamelin was suffering from a rat infestation, a piper dressed in multicolored ("pied") 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. (According to some versions of the story, the promised sum was 1000 guilders.) The piper accepted and played his pipe to lure the rats into the Weser River, where all but one drowned.
Despite the piper's success, the mayor reneged on his promise and refused to pay him the full sum (reputedly reduced to a sum of 50 guilders) even going so far as to blame the piper for bringing the rats himself in an extortion attempt. Enraged, the piper stormed out of the town, vowing to return later to take revenge. On Saint John and Paul's day, while the adults were in church, the piper returned dressed in green like a hunter playing his pipe. In so doing, he attracted the town's children. One hundred and thirty children followed him out of town and into a cave and were never seen again. Depending on the version, at most three children remained behind: one was lame and could not follow quickly enough, the second was deaf and therefore could not hear the music, and the last was blind and unable to see where he was going. These three informed the villagers of what had happened when they came out from church.
Other versions relate that the Pied Piper led the children to the top of Koppelberg Hill, where he took them to a beautiful land, or a place called Koppenberg Mountain, or Transylvania, or that he made them walk into the Weser as he did with the rats, and they all drowned. Some versions state that the Piper returned the children after payment, or that he returned the children after the villagers paid several times the original amount of gold.
HAMELIN
Oh Hamelin, find in the storybooks sere
Of Hamelin, the story of grief and despair
To Hamelin, on from the dark world beyond
Came the piper. And Hamelin, sighing, made bond.
Oh Hamelin, silver the pipes of the man!
In all of Hamelin, none could withstand.
And yet, Hamelin, there was the bargain betrayed
In Hamelin, none of that promise was paid.
Oh Hamelin, sing of the sorrow you sowed,
All Hamelin now grieves the debt that you owed
And Hamelin, night to that cave on the hill
All Hamelin, sick with grief, sorrowing still.
In Hamelin, then, the sad story must end
In Hamelin, night falls and silence descends.
