[MR] BBC: Truth Behind the Pied Piper of Hamelin

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Just posted today on the BBC is a story discussing the fact and legend of
the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

As most of you know from the legend, the Piper was sort of a medieval
animal control officer, hired to lure Hamelin's rats to their doom by his
tunes. Rats now gone, the town officials refused to cough up the agreed
fee. In anger the Piper lured many of the children from the town, and they
disappeared forever.

According to the story, this folk tale represents an actual event on 26
June 1284. Whether it actually happened the way the story has it is
generally poo-pooed by historians. And naturally, the academics can't agree
on what really did happen, and offer widely different (and sometimes
bizarre) explanations. At least space aliens weren't mentioned in the BBC
piece.

What is perhaps more fascinating, is that this tale lives on in Hamelin,
and is at the heart of a thriving tourist trade. The town even has a
professional Piper who prances around in a parti-colored medieval outfit.
Well, if Nottingham can have an official Robin Hood, why can't Hamelin have
their own piper?

Enjoy the story, and photos of some really magnificent medieval buildings
at
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20200902-the-grim-truth-behind-the-pied-piper?referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fworld%2Fus_and_canada
.

As always, I'm happy to provide a Wikipedia page that expands the topic:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_Piper_of_Hamelin

For me, I still enjoy the Rocky Show's Fractured Fairy Tales version, where
the piper blew pies out of his pipe, pies that later caused the entire
population to simply disappear.

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, That Crazy Scot  🦆