I had this book when I was way younger, about the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Was a really thin children's book, with illustrations, and I had no idea it was a true story. Of sorts. I rmbr being kinda disturbed abt it, cos I wasn't given any idea as to what actually happened to the 130 children after they were led into the marvellous cave.

In case the details you got are fuzzy, or you just aren't aware of the existence of such a tale, here's an excerpt from it's wikipedian explanation;


The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a legend, documented by the Brothers Grimm (Der Rattenfänger von Hameln, which translates to "The Ratcatcher of Hamelin"), which tells of an unusual disaster that occurred in the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Germany, 26 June 1284.

In 1284, the town of Hamelin was suffering from a rat infestation. One day, a man claiming to be a rat-catcher approached the villagers with a solution. They promised to pay him for the removal of the rats. The man accepted, and thus played a musical pipe to lure the rats with a song into the Weser river, where all of them drowned.

Despite his success, the people reneged on their promise and refused to pay the rat-catcher. The man left the town angrily, but returned some time later, on June 26th, seeking revenge.


While the inhabitants were in church, he played his pipe again, this time attracting the children of Hamelin. One hundred and thirty boys and girls followed him out of the town, where they were lured into a cave and never seen again. Depending on the version, at most two children remained behind (one of whom was lame and could not follow quickly enough) who informed the villagers what had happened when they came out of the church.

Other versions (but not the traditional ones) claim that the Piper returned the children after the villagers paid several times the original amount of gold.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_piper


Damn interesting, ah?

Read more of it, it gets fascinating. And the site links published are worth reading too, cos they've quite different perceptions as to what really happened; one theroy says all the kids were killed, and another says they were willingly led to places where they set up their own villages. There was even a stained glass window that depicted the story, but it's apparently no more, and we only have descriptions of it. Going by those observations, Hans Dobbertin, a cyptographer, who just passed away last yr, came up with a version of the glass window. Been searching for a pic of it online for the past 20 min, but to no avail! Oh well.

If you find it, can show me? And if you stumble upon any interesting portrayals/illuminations, gimme! I wld be most interested.