Online book reading in the land of legends The Pied Piper of Hamelin (8). Where did the Pied Piper of Hamelin take the children? (The Legend of the Pied Piper. Versions of origin) The tale of the Pied Piper by the Brothers Grimm

If you, dear reader, happen to visit the ancient German city Hamelin, you will be convinced of the veracity of the common phrase that “every stone here is covered with an ancient legend.” The Legend of the Pied Piper...

And it’s true: if you look into the local Pied Piper’s house, you can taste a chocolate “rat” or a bun baked in the form of one. At your local restaurant, you'll see meat folded into rat tails on the menu, as well as a cocktail of the same name.

So what can we say about excursions during which you will be told how Hamelin gained worldwide fame thanks to not very pleasant tailed creatures and the controversial figure of the fighter against them! However, there are some gaps in this “reliable” story, and in order to see them, we will follow one of the city guides.

Traditional version

If we read the fairy tales of the brothers Grimm, the works of Goethe and Heine, and even the immortal creations of our fellow countrymen (Marina Tsvetaeva, the Strugatsky brothers), in which there are motives and elements of the legend of the rat catcher, then we will find out an interesting thing: in all of them, let and with minor variations, contains the same type of information about an event that allegedly took place in Hamelin in the summer of 1284.

So, let us remember: in the mentioned year, this city (they say) experienced such an invasion of rats that the magistrate promised any craftsman for ridding Hamelin of the creatures that carried the plague, “as much gold as he could carry.” Such a craftsman turned out to be the Pied Piper, who played a magic pipe and carried all the city rodents with him to the Weser River.

As a result, the rats drowned, but the greedy head of the city magistrate decided to “hide” the promised reward and did not give the savior a single coin. He became angry and the very next night took revenge on the townspeople: he played his pipe again and took away all the children of Hamelin, whom no one ever saw again.

Leading you along the narrow Bungelozenstrasse, another guide, for greater effect, will suddenly ask the whole group to be silent, explaining that it was along this street, already called Silent since the 18th century, that the Pied Piper of Hamelin once took children away from the city.

Then, after a minute of silence, which will allow you to feel the tragic atmosphere of the summer of 1284, the guide will reassuringly inform you that - according to the classics of literature - several children nevertheless escaped the tragic fate. One was deaf and therefore did not hear the enchanting sounds of the Pied Piper. The second one was unable to walk from birth. And the third suffered from blindness and therefore simply could not keep up with the children’s column...

Historical background of the legend

So, let's ask the first question: does the very outline of the legend about the Pied Piper have a right to exist? Is it really possible that in the glorious ancient Hameln, like other German villages famous for the abundance of cats among the townspeople, representatives of this tribe of rat hunters were so depleted that the magistrate - at least in words - had to make unprecedented expenses in favor of a certain savior?

Yes, in medieval Germany, at some point cats began to be considered the reincarnation of witches who participated in the Sabbaths, and therefore - at the instigation of the Inquisition - they were almost completely exterminated, just as happened in our memory with the unfortunate murks in Maoist China (there They believed that with their “Meow!” they were mocking the name of the “great helmsman”). By the 14th century, the once numerous tribe of cats was exterminated almost everywhere in Germany.

Here, it would seem, take the Germans and give credit to the rat catchers who destroy the long-tailed carriers of the bubonic plague. But even here, not everything is so simple: since the ancient rat catchers fought against vectors of infection not with poison, but with the help of magical rites and spells - for example, described in the treatise “The Book of Miracles” (1430) - the Church revered representatives of this profession as “servants” the devil,” and their power over rats is “satanic.”

As a result, the Inquisition exterminated the rat catchers - those who had already completed their work or who were unable to cope with it - with hardly less passion than the “witches who took the form of cats.” In ancient criminal chronicles we find mentions that often the rat catchers also did not remain in debt - they allegedly destroyed the provisions of the townspeople with “witchcraft spells” or even sent “severe pestilences” to the latter.

Thus, as we see, the motive for revenge of the Pied Piper of Hamelin is based on a historical basis. This revenge could have taken place - regardless of the generosity or stinginess of the head of the city magistrate.

Was there a “boy”?

We just found out that the legend of the Pied Piper had some historical background. But the question is: have documents been preserved about this particular incident from the life of Hamelin?

Such evidence, alas, is missing. Guides can report that “the first report of the Pied Piper of Hamelin could be seen on the stained glass window of a local church, created back in 1300, that is, practically in the wake of the event.”

However, here's the problem: that church was destroyed in 1660, and the later restored stained glass window does not contain any information about rats. But we know with what care and meticulousness the Germans recreate lost relics!

How did they forget about the rats in this case? And even more than that: evidence that Hamelin suffered from the plague in 1284 is absent from local chronicles, appearing in them only in the period 1348-1350 - just when the “Black Death” was raging throughout the rest of Europe.

Now another question: has any primary source survived to this day indicating that the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin is not fiction? Try asking a local guide. In response, you will most likely hear: “Naturally! It is enough to mention the Luneburg Manuscript!”

It would seem that such an answer should satisfy even a history connoisseur who can remember that we are talking about a document created precisely in the 13th century. However, if you dig deeper, it turns out that at least two Lüneburg manuscripts are known. So, in the one that was created in the 13th century, it tells, for example, about the geometry of Euclid, but there is not a word about the destroyer of rats and children.

But in the later Luneburg Manuscript (circa 1440-1450), written almost 200 years after the legendary event, it is actually mentioned... But actually, who is mentioned?..

Let’s take it and read: “In the year 1284, on the day of Saints John and Paul, June 26, a bagpiper, dressed in multi-colored clothes, seduced 130 children born in Hameln, and led them to Coppen, where they disappeared.”

Everything is strange here. And the diversity of the hero’s attire is in contrast to the traditional black vestments of wandering rat catchers. And the term “seduced” coupled with the mention of the rather remote town of Koppen near Kalvaria - a favorite patrimony of criminals of all stripes in those years. And any lack of mention of rats, the profession of “seducer of children,” his revenge on the stingy head of the magistrate.

For those who would like to know the end of our little investigation, we will inform you: the primary mentions of the Pied Piper of Hamelin can be found only in documents of the 16th century, that is, in “evidence” that is centuries away from the events that allegedly took place in the history of the famous city. Well, for those who want to find out how modern German scientists interpret this fact, we will briefly mention this.

The lack of reliable historical information about the Pied Piper of Hamelin gives rise to numerous versions regarding this legend.

Some modern German researchers believe that we may even be talking about a “medieval serial pedophile” who lured the children of Hamelin into his network with enchanting music.

Others insist on the version that this legend contains a sacred meaning: they say, the Pied Piper is just a collective image, an archetype of death.

Still others even believe that the legend contains an encrypted message about the tragic fate of the participants in the Children's Crusade.

Still others prefer a purely local flavor, looking for evidence that the strange bagpiper was just the organizer of the so-called Ostsiedlung - the resettlement of the Germans who colonized Eastern Europe at that time.

Be that as it may, all these versions, in fact, contradict the popular stories of modern guides who regal Hamelin’s guests with “historical” exotica. However, such versions - at least until now - remain nothing more than guesses of varying degrees of reliability. Fortune telling on coffee grounds around the scary legend of hoary antiquity.

Sergey TUMANOV

The legend about the mysterious rat catcher, who first brought out all the rats and then all the children from the German city of Hamelin, was popular not only in Germany. Famous German poets, Goethe and Heine, and Russians, Marina Tsvetaeva and Valery Bryusov, wrote poems on this topic. They were attracted by the tragic but instructive idea of ​​the legend - cruel punishment will follow for failure to fulfill the promise. This happened to the residents of Hamelin. The inscription on the ancient town hall reminds us of a distant and sad event: “In 1284, the wizard pied piper lured 130 children from Hamelin. They all died in the dungeon."

In the Middle Ages, many wealthy cities in Europe suffered from rats, which lived not only in garbage dumps, but penetrated into barns, basements where food supplies were stored, and climbed into the homes of citizens. In unsanitary conditions, they multiplied quickly; neither cats, nor cunning mousetraps, nor poisonous substances could destroy them. Rats are cunning creatures that quickly adapt to changing environments. It was believed that only a person with a magical gift could cope with them.

The prosperous city of Hamelin, located on the Weser River, not far from Hanover, did not escape the difficult fate of the invasion: in the summer of 1284, residents discovered that a countless number of rats had suddenly appeared in the city. It was as if someone had brought them to Hamelin. They were not afraid of anyone, neither people, nor horses, nor dogs, nor cats. Residents tried to fight them, but nothing helped - the number of rats only increased. And the burgomaster seriously began to think about whether the residents should leave the city, in which the rats had destroyed all the food supplies.

At this tragic moment, a limping man in red trousers, with a red cape and a red hat on his head appeared in Hamelin. He had a flute tucked into his belt. He looked like a traveling musician. At the city gates he was asked about the purpose of the visit, he replied that he would like to help the residents cope with the disaster that befell them. He was shown the way to the town hall.

The burgomaster and the residents, having learned about his desire to rid the city of rats, said that if the musician managed to do this, he would receive as much gold as a reward as he could carry. The young man agreed. He went out into the square, where people who had heard about him had already gathered, pulled out his flute from his belt and began to play. Suddenly, rats began to appear from basements and attics. They filled the square. People looked at them in horror, but the rats did not pay attention to anyone. The young man played the flute and moved along the main street towards the exit of the city, the rats followed him. Every single one.

Residents could not believe their eyes - the streets were empty. The rats have left the city. And the young man reached the Weser River, jumped into the boat and swam, without stopping to play. The rats rushed after him into the water. Every single one.

After some time, the young man returned to the city. Residents ran through the streets, shouting and expressing their delight. They were ready to carry the young man in their arms. But he went to the burgomaster and reminded him of his promise. The burgomaster went out into the square and said in front of everyone that he did not believe that the young man had managed to rid Hamelin of rats so easily. And just in case, I handed him a few coins.

And this is the promised payment? - the young man was surprised.
He did not take the money, and the burgomaster did not talk to him and pointed to the exit from the city.

“Well, you keep your promises,” the young man said to the residents gathered in the square. “I will repay you for ingratitude in the same coin.”

He pulled his flute out from his belt again and began to play. And immediately children began to run to him from all the streets. The young man walked along the main street out of the city, and the children followed him. Soon the rat catcher and the children who followed him disappeared from sight.

The residents never dared to give chase. It was as if they were all under a spell. The children never returned to Hamelin.

A long-standing and mysterious event underlies the legend first told to the world by the German writers and folklore collectors the Brothers Grimm: more than 700 years ago, on June 26, 1284, 130 children disappeared forever from the city of Hamelin. The cause of the tragedy was an unprecedented invasion of rodents. The streets, houses, and basements were filled with rats. There was no rest from them, day or night.

In June 1284, a stranger in fancy multi-colored clothing appeared in Hamelin. Nobody knew who he was or where he came from. He called himself the Pied Piper and offered the residents to get rid of the scourge for a certain amount. The townspeople agreed to his terms. Then the stranger took out a pipe and began to play. Immediately a noise was heard from everywhere - it was the rodents, forming in ranks and rows, moving after the Pied Piper.

They followed the musician, who, playing the pipe, led them through the streets of the town to the Weser River, in which everyone drowned. But as soon as the time came to settle accounts with the liberator, the stingy burghers regretted their agreement and refused to pay the Pied Piper.

Then on June 26, St. John's Day, this mysterious man reappeared in Hamelin. He again walked through the streets, playing his pipe, but now children over four years old came running to him from everywhere. A total of 130 children followed him, enchanted by the wonderful melody, and the adult residents stood rooted to the spot, not yet understanding what could happen.

The sorcerer led the children to a mountain in which a gate opened, and the children, following him, went inside, after which the gate slammed shut. There was only one baby left outside - he was lame and did not arrive in time. When the local burghers approached the mountain, they found nothing and no one; it seemed to them that the children had disappeared into the ground.

The parents of the missing shed tears, and the lame boy all his life regretted only that he was left alone and would never be able to get to “the land of joy, where there are many streams and orchards, where beautiful flowers grow all year round.”

This medieval story - as told by the famous storytellers the Brothers Grimm - is familiar to every German from childhood. Writers such as Goethe and Bertolt Brecht addressed the theme of the Pied Piper. The legend is widely known outside Germany. Thus, one of the most widely read works of Anglo-Saxon literature is the retelling of the Hamelin legend by the 19th century English poet Robert Browning.

In the 20s of the last century, Marina Tsvetaeva’s lyrical and satirical poem “The Pied Piper” was published in Paris. Under the pen of writers, in the works of famous composers and artists who turned to the Gamepin theme, the legend each time acquired a new sound and interpretation: some saw in it a dark mystical event, emphasizing its dramatic character, others saw the image of the Pied Piper as joyful and bright, as in funny cartoon by Walt Disney.

What does science actually think about the legend? For a long time, historians have been racking their brains over the mysterious incident. In Hamelin itself there is no doubt that it took place. There is an entry about him in the books of the municipality, stored in the city hall.

A comparison of various historical evidence has not yet led researchers to a final solution. Some believe that the legend describes the beginning of one of the "Children's Crusades." The young Hamelians who disappeared without a trace succumbed to the persuasion of one of the then walkers, who called for the development and liberation of lands in the East.

This “recruiter” could well have also been a rat catcher - such a profession actually existed in the old days and should have been very respectable in a town like Hamelin, where the grain trade had long played an important role, and mills formed an integral part of the urban landscape: mice suffered flour barns, rats posed a threat to people.

Another part of historians is inclined to believe that a case of mass hypnosis could have taken place in Hamelin, under the influence of which young residents fell into a “dancing ecstasy” and drowned in the surrounding swamps or the waters of the local Weser River. The legend gives the Pied Piper traits that make him similar to the elves, and the latter are known for having beauty, enchanting singing and the ability to extract bewitching music from various instruments that is not characteristic of mere mortals.

Elves came from the north - from the Scandinavian sagas. There they were called "alvas". They very quickly “populated” all of Europe. The identifying features of elves are slanted eyes, pointed ears and extraordinary lightness and grace of movements. And they also have the gift of eternal youth. In other words, elves never age, because they are immortal. However, they can be killed, but they never die by themselves.

The gift of long life endowed the elves with wisdom - they know everything about everything. Elves can talk to plants and animals and can bend them to their will. Like other evil spirits, elves are prone to werewolves, but most of all they love to pretend to be people - in order to deceive real people and laugh at them.

If they manage to “treat” a mortal with some disgusting thing like a fly agaric or rotten mushroom, deceptively turned into a bun or gingerbread, their joy knows no bounds! And the most fun thing is to charm, seduce and make some guy or girl fall in love with you, so that after all their lives these unfortunate people languish in boredom and wait for their mysterious lover to return.

Folk legends agree that elves sing amazingly, playing along with themselves on violins, harps and pipes. Anyone who even once hears an elf playing and singing will never be able to listen to primitive human music... And they also love to dance. Smooth concentric rings of trampled grass, which in our time are considered traces of a UFO landing, were previously called “elf dance”, because people thought that at this place the elves were circling all night, until dawn.

Elves live “in a world” where time flows differently than on Earth, where they visit from time to time to have fun. Most often, they lure children to visit them, whom they love and never offend. The child is taught something useful, for example, singing and playing musical instruments, sometimes jewelry and even witchcraft.

It seems to a person that only a few hours have passed, but in fact he spent several years visiting the elves, and his parents mourned him a long time ago! When the child grows up and the elves lose interest in him, he returns “to earth.” All the stories about those who visited them and gained access to “knowledge” end sadly. A student of the elves usually yearns and toils and tries to meet them again, and this, according to the unwritten law, is impossible. The man wastes away and soon dies.

Folk legends not only tell about strange creatures living somewhere near us, but also give advice on how to protect ourselves from their evil influence. Most often, prayer is enough. It is also useful to have something iron with you, because elves are afraid of cold metal. For some reason they also don’t like rowan. A sprig of rowan above the door of the house - and you are protected from the invasion of unknown creatures...

“Hameln is a nice town,” Marina Tsvetaeva once wrote. Indeed, it is beautiful, this ancient city, nestled in the Weser bend among green fields and meadows. There are no mountains nearby, but the figure of the Pied Piper is visible everywhere, playing his magic flute. It has become an eternal symbol. The legend lives on, bringing in income from tourism today.

Every year on June 26 a solemn procession takes place. When comparing it with the legendary “exodus of children”, at least two differences can be established: firstly, everyone, without exception, returns home safely, - secondly, not only children take part in the procession, but also such adults as the burgomaster and everyone city ​​council members dressed in medieval costumes.

The procession is led, of course, by the Pied Piper - and everyone who wishes follows him, at a respectful distance. Just like more than 700 years ago, you can see hordes of rats on every corner... in bakery windows. A traditional Hamelin souvenir - rodents of different sizes and colors are baked from the very flour whose reserves they took up arms once in the distant past.

Autumn forest, Hamelin, Germany. It was in these parts that, according to rumors, lived the Pied Piper of Hamelin, a legendary musician who saved the city from an invasion of rats, but also became the hero of a dark legend.

Hamelin is largely famous for the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, and there is a bizarre coincidence in the history of the city: the medieval story of the Pied Piper was allegorically repeated in the story of the invention of morphine. Friedrich Serturner, having synthesized morphine, opened a pharmacy in Hameln in 1822 and sold it until his death. Heroin, later synthesized from morphine, was initially sold as a children's cough medicine.

Hamelin. Around 1662

Hameln is located on the banks of the Weser River in Lower Saxony and is currently the capital of the Hameln-Pyrmont district. Hamelin became rich by trading in grain, which was grown in the surrounding fields; this was reflected even in the oldest city coat of arms, which depicted millstones. From 1277, that is, a year before the time indicated by the legend, it turned into a free city.

It is believed that it was the envy of the neighbors towards the rich merchant Hamelin that largely determined the change in the original legend, so that the motive of deception to which the hero was subjected by local elders was added to it.

Inscription on the beam of the Pied Piper's House (Hameln). “In 1284, on the day of John and Paul, which was the 26th day of the month of June, a flutist dressed in colorful clothes led one hundred and thirty children born in Hamelin out of the city to Koppen near Kalwaria, where they disappeared.”

The Pied Piper of Hamelin (German: Rattenfänger von Hameln), the piper of Hamelin, is a character from a medieval German legend. According to it, the musician, deceived by the magistrate of the city of Hamelin, who refused to pay a reward for ridding the city of rats, used witchcraft to take away the city’s children, who then perished forever.

The legend of the Pied Piper, believed to have originated in the 13th century, is a type of story about a mysterious musician leading away bewitched people or livestock. Such legends were very widespread in the Middle Ages, despite the fact that the Hamelin version is the only one that accurately names the date of the event - June 26, 1284, and the memory of which was reflected in the chronicles of that time along with completely genuine events. All this taken together leads researchers to believe that behind the legend of the rat catcher there were some real events that over time acquired the form of a folk tale, but there is no single point of view on what these events were or even when they occurred. In later sources, especially foreign ones, for some unknown reason the date is replaced by another - June 20, 1484 or July 22, 1376. No explanation has been found for this either.

The legend of the Pied Piper, published in the 19th century by Ludwig Joachim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano, served as a source of inspiration for numerous writers, poets, and composers, including Robert Browning, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, the Strugatsky brothers and the Brothers Grimm.

Legend of the Pied Piper

The legend of the rat catcher in its most famous version reads like this: one day the city of Hamelin was subjected to a rat invasion. No amount of tricks helped get rid of the rodents, which became more impudent every day to the point that they themselves began to attack cats and dogs, as well as bite babies in cradles. A desperate magistrate has announced a reward for anyone who can help rid the city of rats. “On the day of John and Paul, which was the 26th day of the month of June,” a “flutist dressed in colorful veils” appeared. It is unknown who he really was and where he came from. Having ordered the magistrate to pay him as a reward “as much gold as he can carry,” he took a magic flute from his pocket, to the sound of which all the city rats came running to him, he also led the bewitched animals away from the city and drowned them all in the Weser River.

The magistrate, however, managed to regret the promise given in a hurry, and when the flutist returned for the reward, he flatly refused him. After some time, the musician returned to the city in a hunter’s costume and a red hat and played the magic flute again, but this time all the city children came running to him, while the bewitched adults could not stop this. Just like the rats before, the flutist led them out of the city - and drowned them in the river (or, as the legend says, “he led out of the city one hundred and thirty children born in Hamelin to Koppen near Kalwaria, where they disappeared”).

Even later, this last option was altered: the unclean one, pretending to be a rat catcher, failed to kill innocent children, and having crossed the mountains, they settled somewhere in Transylvania, in present-day Romania.

Probably, a little later, it was added to the legend that two boys fell behind the general procession - tired from the long journey, they trudged behind the procession and therefore managed to stay alive. Later, allegedly, one of them went blind, the other became numb.

Another version of the legend tells about one straggler - a lame child who managed to return to the city and tell about what happened. It was this option that Robert Browning later used as the basis for his poem about the Pied Piper.

The third version says that there were three stragglers: a blind boy who got lost on the way, led by a deaf man who could not hear the music and therefore escaped witchcraft, and, finally, the third, who jumped out of the house half-dressed, who, then ashamed of his own appearance, returned and that's why he stayed alive.

Stained glass window of the Marktkirche church. Modern reconstruction

XIV century

The earliest mention of the Pied Piper is believed to come from a stained glass window in the Marktkirche church in Hameln, made around 1300. The stained glass window itself was destroyed around 1660, but its description made in the 14th-17th centuries remained, as well as a drawing made by the traveler Baron Augustin von Moersperg. According to him, on the glass there was a picture of a motley piper and around him children in white dresses.

The modern reconstruction was carried out in 1984 by Hans Dobbertin.

Around 1375, in the chronicle of the city of Hamelin, it was briefly noted: “In 1284, on the day of John and Paul, which was on the 26th day of the month of June, a flute player dressed in colorful clothes led out of the city one hundred and thirty children born in Hamelin to Koppen near Kalwaria where they disappeared."

In the same chronicle, in an entry about 1384, the American researcher Sheila Harty found a short entry: “A hundred years ago our children disappeared.”

It is also noted that for the Hamelians this date - June 26, “from the departure of our children” was the beginning of the countdown.

There is also information that the dean of the local church, Johann von Lude (c. 1384), had a prayer book, on the cover of which his grandmother (or, according to other sources, his mother), who witnessed the removal of the children with her own eyes, made a short rhymed entry about what happened in Latin. This prayer book was lost around the end of the 17th century.

15th century

Around 1440-1450, the same text was included in a somewhat enriched form in the Chronicle of the Principality of Luneburg, written in Latin. The passage reads as follows: “A young man of thirty, handsome and smart, so that everyone who saw him admired his article and clothes, entered the city through the bridge and the Weser Gate. He immediately began playing everywhere in the city on a silver flute of amazing shape. And all the children who heard these sounds, about 130 in number, followed him<…>They disappeared - so that no one could ever find any of them."

16th century

In 1553, the burgomaster of Bamberg, who found himself in Hameln as a hostage, wrote down in his diary the legend of a flutist who took children away and locked them forever in Mount Koppenburg. When leaving, he allegedly promised to return in three hundred years and take the children again, so they expected him by 1583.

In 1556, a more complete account of what happened appeared, set out by Jobus Finzelius in his book “Wonderful Signs. True descriptions of extraordinary and miraculous events”: “We need to report a completely extraordinary incident that happened in the town of Hamelin, in the diocese of Mindener, in the year of the Lord 1284, on the day of Saints John and Paul. A certain fellow of about 30 years old, beautifully dressed so that those who saw him admired him, crossed the bridge over the Weser and entered the city gates. He had a strange-looking silver pipe and began to whistle throughout the city. And all the children, hearing that pipe, about 130 in number, followed him out of the city, left and disappeared, so that no one could subsequently find out whether at least one of them survived. The mothers wandered from town to town and found no one. Sometimes their voices were heard, and each mother recognized the voice of her child. Then the voices were heard in Hamelin, after the first, second and third anniversary of the departure and disappearance of the children. I read about this in an old book. And the mother of Mr. Dean Johann von Lüde herself saw how the children were taken away.”

Around 1559-1565, Count Froben Christoph von Zimmern and his secretary Johannes Müller provided a complete version of the legend in the Chronicle of Counts von Zimmern, which they wrote, but did not name the exact date of the event, limiting themselves to mentioning that it happened “several hundred years ago” (German. vor etlichen hundert Jarn).

According to this chronicle, the flutist was a “wandering student” (German: fahrender Schuler), who undertook to rid the city of rats for a few hundred guilders (a huge sum at that time). With the help of a magic flute, he led the animals out of the city and locked them forever in one of the nearby mountains. When the municipality, expecting a spectacular spectacle, considered itself deceived and refused to pay, it gathered children around itself, most of whom “were under eight or nine years old,” and, taking them with him, locked them inside the mountain.

17th century

Richard Rolands (real name Richard Westergan, c. 1548 - 1636), an English writer of Dutch origin, in his book A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, Antwerp, 1605, briefly mentions the story of the Pied Piper, calling him ( in all likelihood, for the first time) “the Pide Piper of Hammel” (in the spelling of that time - the Pide Piper of Hammel). Repeating the version that the children were taken away from the city by a vengeful rat catcher, he, however, ends the story with the fact that after passing through a certain cave or tunnel in the mountains, they ended up in Transylvania, where they subsequently began to live. Another thing is that, following von Zimmern, he gives the date of the event as July 22, 1376, despite the fact that he could in no way use the “Chronicle ...”, discovered and first published at the end of the 18th century, as a source.

Further confusion in the chronology of the event was brought by the English author Robert Burton, who in his work “The Anatomy of Melancholy” (1621) uses the story of the rat catcher from Hamelin as an example of the machinations of devilish forces: “In Hammel, in Saxony, in the year 1484, June 20, the devil in in the guise of a colorful flutist, he took 130 children from the city, who were never seen again. »

The source of his information also remains unknown.

The story was later picked up by Nathaniel Wanley, who in his book “Wonders of the Small World” (1687) repeats the story after Rowlands, and it is also reproduced by William Ramsey in 1668: “...It is also worth mentioning the amazing story told by Westergan, about the motley flutist , who, on July 22, 1376 from the Nativity of Christ, took 160 children away from the city of Hamel, in Saxony. This is an example of God’s miraculous permission and the devil’s wrath.”

House of the Pied Piper. Hamelin

The Pied Piper's House

The Pied Piper's House, which is an ancient building of the city hall, is located at Osterstrasse 28. The façade was made in 1603 by the Hamelin architect Johann Hundeltossen in the Weser Renaissance style, but the oldest parts of the house date back to the 13th century, and subsequently it was rebuilt several times. The house got its name from the fact that during renovations carried out in the 20th century, the famous tablet with the story of the abduction of children by the rat catcher was found, which was then gilded and reattached to the facade so that it is easily read from the ground.

Parallels in other regions

German researcher Emma Buheim draws attention to the legend existing in France about a mysterious monk who freed a certain city from rats, but, deceived by the magistrate, took away all the livestock and all the domestic animals.

Ireland also knows the story of a magical musician, not a flutist, but a bagpiper, who led the youth with him.

It is also sometimes assumed that the rats, which came into the legend later, were inspired not only by real circumstances, since in the Middle Ages they really represented a disaster for many cities, although not in such a dramatic form as the legend tells, but also by ancient Germanic beliefs, as if the souls of the dead move precisely into rats and mice, gathering at the call of the god of Death. In the form of the latter, with this interpretation, the piper appears.

The story of an unknown person who appeared out of nowhere and took away city children without any explanation can also be found in Brandenburg. The only difference is that the sorcerer played the organistrum and, having lured his victims, disappeared with them forever into Mount Marienberg.

In the city of Neustadt-Eberswalde there was also a legend about a sorcerer-rat catcher who saved the city mill from an infestation of rodents. If you believe the story, he hid “something” inside and put the same “something” in a place known to him. The bewitched rats immediately left their previous homes and left the city forever. This legend, however, ends peacefully - the sorcerer received his payment and also disappeared from the city forever.

There is a well-known story about how the fields in the vicinity of the city of Lorja were attacked by ants. The Bishop of Worms organized a procession and prayed for deliverance from them. When the procession reached Lake Lorja, a hermit came out to meet it and offered to get rid of the ants and asked for it to build a chapel, spending 100 guilders on it. Having received consent, he took out a pipe and played it. The insects crawled towards him, he led them to the water, where he plunged himself. He then demanded a reward, but was refused. Then he played his instrument again, all the pigs in the area came running to him, he led them to the lake and disappeared into the water with them.

On the island of Ummanz (Germany) there is a story about a rat catcher who, with the help of witchcraft, drowned all the local rats and mice in the sea. The place where this happened was from that time called Rott, and the soil taken from there allegedly served for a long time as a reliable remedy against rodents.

Korneuburg near Vienna (Austria) has its own version of the story of the Pied Piper. The action in this case takes place in 1646, at the height of the Thirty Years' War, when the city devastated by the Swedes was infested with rats and mice. A flutist dressed as a hunter also volunteered to save the city from trouble. Unlike the Hamelin character, this character had a name - Hans Mousehole, and, in his own words, was from Magdalenagrund (Vienna), where he served as the city rat catcher. Deceived by the magistrate, who refused to pay on the grounds that he did not want to deal with a “rootless tramp,” Hans, playing the pipe, lured the children out of the city and took them to the Danube, where their ship was waiting on the pier, ready to sail. However, this time the children did not disappear anywhere, but went straight to the slave markets of Constantinople. It is believed that until recently, in memory of this, in Korneuburg on Pfarrgäßchenstraße there was a marble bas-relief depicting a rat rising on its hind legs, surrounded by an intricate Gothic inscription telling the story of what happened and the designation of the year, which over time has been completely erased, so that it is impossible to distinguish became possible only in IV Roman numerals. According to local tradition, shepherds abandoned the use of horns to gather their flocks, but instead cracked a whip.

There is an assumption that in this case we are talking about a military recruitment that was carried out by a certain bugler or piper, and none of the recruits were able to return home.

A legend very similar to the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin also exists in the city of Newton on the English Isle of Wight. Here, trying to get rid of the invasion of rats, so insolent that few of the city children were able to avoid being bitten, the magistrate hired to help “a strange guy in a suit of all the colors of the rainbow,” who introduced himself as the Motley Flutist. The rat catcher, having agreed that the payment for his services would be 50 pounds sterling - that is, an impressive sum, successfully lured rats and mice out of the city and drowned them in the sea, but, deceived by the magistrate, began to play a different melody on the pipe. Then all the city children came running to him, and, accompanied by them, the rat catcher disappeared forever into the oak forest.

A musician with bagpipes once appeared in the Harz mountains: every time he started playing, a girl died. Thus, he killed 50 girls and disappeared with their souls.

A similar story exists in Abyssinia - superstitions involve evil demons called Hadjiui Majui who play pipes. They ride around the villages on goats and, with the help of their music, which is impossible to resist, they take children away to kill them.

Enchanted by the music of Orpheus, animals gather around him (Roman mosaic)

Mythical origins

According to German researcher Emma Buheim, the basis of the legend about the rat catcher goes back to pagan beliefs about gnomes and elves who had a predilection for kidnapping children and bright costumes that were specially worn to attract children's attention.

Mythology researcher Sabine Baring-Gould points out that in Germanic mythology the soul is similar to a mouse. In addition, there are cases where the death of a person was explained by the fact that some kind of music was playing nearby, and the soul left the body when the music died down (in his opinion, such a superstition is associated with the early Christians’ interpretation of Jesus as Orpheus). The Germans call the singing of the elves, foreshadowing death, the “song of the spirits” and the “round dance of the elves” and warn children not to listen to them and not to believe their promises, otherwise “Frau Holle” (the ancient goddess Holda) will take them. Scandinavian ballads describe how young men are lured by the sweet melodies of elven maidens. This music is called ellfr-lek, in Icelandic liuflíngslag, in Norwegian Huldreslát. The researcher points out the parallels of these northern myths with the story of the magical singing of the sirens that seduced Odysseus. In addition, to understand the structure of the story of the rat catcher, one must take into account that the soul associated with breathing also lives in the howling of the wind (cf. Wild Hunt); the souls of the dead were led to the next world in Greek mythology by Hermes Psychopomp (associated with the wind: flying cloak, winged sandals), in Egyptian - by the god Thoth, in Indian - Sarama. The musician god Apollo had the epithet Smyntheus (“slayer of field mice”) because he saved Phrygia from invasion. Orpheus made the animals gather around him with his melodies. The Sanskrit legend about the poet Gunadhya tells how he gathered many animals in the forest with his parables. In Finnish mythology, the magical musician is called Väinämöinen, and in Scandinavian mythology, the god Odin became famous for singing runes. Traces of the myth of Odin can be traced in the ancient German heroic epic "Kudruna", where the power to subdue animals with music is attributed to Horant (Norwegian: Hjarrandi).

There are analogues to the story of a musical instrument that makes everyone dance while the music plays (the Wallachian tale of the bagpipes given by God; the modern Greek tale of Bakal and his pipe; the Icelandic saga of the harp of Sigurd, who was killed because of it by Bosi; the horn of Oberon from a medieval novel “Guon of Bordeaux”; the Spanish fairy tale about the fandango; the Irish fairy tale about the blind musician Maurice Connor and his magic pipe that made the fish dance; the legend of the Guatemalan Quiché people from the book “Popol Vuh”), and also, conversely, about an instrument that makes you fall asleep ( gusli in Slavic fairy tales; the magic harp of Jack climbing the beanstalk.

Attempts at explanation

Legends of this type are quite common both in Europe and the Middle East. Another thing is that the legend of the rat catcher is the only one that accurately names the date of the event - June 26, 1284. In the sources of the 17th century, it was, however, replaced by another: July 22, 1376, but still such a precise chronological statement allows us to assume that there were some real events behind the legend. There is no consensus among researchers about what exactly we are talking about, but the main assumptions look like this.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin as a common noun in politics

“The Pied Piper of Hamelin” - these words have become common nouns in relation to evil people who cruelly take revenge for any injustice towards themselves.
“The Pied Piper” is the name given to false promises that lure people to destruction.

The politicization of the old legend began already in the 19th century, when Napoleon was called the Pied Piper, then Hitler and communist leaders. The Pied Piper became a cartoon hero; Thus, in the German Democratic Republic, there was a widespread image of a Nazi, nostalgic for the past, in the form of a Motley Flutist, dragging a crowd of gray personalities with him. In the Federal Republic of Germany, accordingly, the image of the Pied Piper was taken by the communist, from whose pipe Picasso’s white doves fluttered.

The city of Hamelin is rich and rich.

On the main square, the towers of the town hall prop up the sky. The spiers of the Cathedral of St. Boniface stretch even higher to the sky. In front of the town hall is a fountain decorated with a stone statue of Roland. The valiant warrior Roland and his famous sword are covered with small splashes.

The bells of St. Boniface rang. A motley crowd emerges from the high pointed doors of the cathedral and spreads along the wide steps.

Rich burghers are coming, one fatter than the other. Gold chains glitter on velvet clothes. The plump fingers are studded with rings.

Merchants are calling and luring buyers. There is a market right on the square. Food is piled up in mountains. Lard is whiter than snow. Oil is yellower than the sun.

Gold and fat - that’s what it is, the glorious, rich city of Hamelin!

The city is surrounded on all sides by a deep moat, a high wall with towers and turrets. There are guards at every gate. If the purse is empty, there is a patch on the knee, a hole on the elbow, the guards drive away from the gate with spears and halberds.

Every city is famous for something.

Hamelin is famous for its wealth and the gilded spiers of its cathedrals. And the Hamelians are famous for their stinginess. They know how, like no one else, to take care of their reserves, multiply goods, and take away the last money from the poor.

A dry, lean year has arrived. Famine began in the area.

But the Hamelians don’t care about that. Their barns are full of last year’s grain, their tables are bent from food.

Already in the fall, crowds of hungry peasants flocked to the city.

The cunning merchants decided to hold the grain until spring. By spring, hunger will hit the peasants, and it will be possible to sell grain even more profitably.

All winter, crowds of hungry people stood at the walls of Hamelin, at the closed gates. As soon as the snow melted in the fields, the burgomaster 4 ordered to open all the city gates and let everyone through without hindrance.

The merchants stood in the doorways of the shops, their hands clasped in their belts, their bellies stuck out, their eyebrows sternly frowned, so that they immediately understood: you can’t buy anything cheap here.

But then an unprecedented thing happened.

While the weakened people were dragging themselves into the city, rats suddenly poured into Hamelin from all over the area, from hungry villages, from empty fields.

At first it seemed like it wasn’t such a big deal.

By order of the burgomaster, the drawbridges were raised, all the gates were tightly closed and filled with stones. But the rats swam across the moat and through some passages and holes entered the city.

Rats walked openly through the streets in broad daylight. Residents looked in horror at the terrible rat procession.

Hungry creatures fled to barns, basements and bins full of choice grain. And the rat feasts began!

The burghers thought deeply. We gathered for a council at the town hall.

Although the burgomaster of Hamelin was quite fat and clumsy, you can’t say anything - he was strong in mind. Sometimes the Hamelin people just threw up their hands: how smart and cunning!

And so, after thinking about it, the burgomaster ordered: in order to save Hameln from unexpected misfortune, cats and kittens should be brought to the city from all over the area.

Carts creaking along the roads to Hamelin. There were hastily knocked together wooden cages on the carts. And in the cages there are not fattened geese and ducks for sale, but cats and cats. All stripes and breeds, thin, hungry.

The carts drove into the square in front of the town hall. The guards opened the cages. Cats ran in all directions, gray, red, black, tabby.

The burghers breathed a sigh of relief and, having calmed down, slowly went home.

But nothing came of this wise idea.

The cats were frightened by such a rich treat. They fled in fear from the hordes of rats. They were hiding in all directions, climbing onto the peaked tiled roofs. A thin black cat climbed onto the roof of the Cathedral of St. Boniface and meowed all night long.

The next morning an order was posted: to lure cats into the city with affection and lard, and not to let a single one out of the city.

But where is it? Within three days there was not a single cat left in Hamelin.

Well, one thing didn’t help - we need to come up with another. You can’t sit idly by and watch the goods perish, lovingly accumulated, saved, counted so many times!

The ringing of bells floats over Hamelin. All churches hold prayer services against the infestation of rats. On the porches, monks sell amulets. Anyone who has acquired such an amulet - live in peace: a rat will not come even a hundred steps away.

But nothing helped: neither prayers, nor amulets.

In the morning, heralds blow trumpets in the square and summon the rat king to trial.

People flock to the city hall. Merchants with servants and household members, masters with their apprentices are walking. The whole city gathered in front of the town hall.

Today is the trial of the rats 5. They are waiting for the rat king himself to arrive at the town hall. They say he has fifteen heads and one body. On each head, most skillfully crafted, is a golden crown the size of a hazelnut.

There were so many people packed into the town hall that there was nowhere for an apple to fall. One after another, the judges entered and sat down under the canopy on gilded chairs. In black velvet robes, in black caps, everyone’s faces are important, strict, incorruptible - the rat king and all the rat brethren are trembling!

The scribes trimmed their pens. Everyone was waiting. At the slightest sound, even the rustle of a falling glove, all heads turned at once.

They didn’t know where the criminal king would appear from: from the door, from a dark corner, or from behind the judge’s chair.

We waited until evening. The judges' faces turned yellow from the heat and stuffiness. But the rat king never showed up.

Nothing to do. Immediately behind the doors they caught a huge mustachioed rat. They put me in an iron cage, and the cage was placed in the middle of the table.

The rat, darting about, fell silent in submissive melancholy. Huddled in a corner.

Chief Judge Kaspar Geller rose from his seat. He wiped his wet face with a handkerchief. Five grain barns were completely plundered by rats and all the cellars were emptied.

After him stood Judge Gangel Moon, looking like an overweight fox: long nose, oily eyes. He was the most cunning of all in Hamelin. He kept everything he owned in chests lined with iron, inaccessible to a rat’s tooth. And now he looked at everyone slyly, hiding his gloating under sympathy.

Ah, most gracious judges! - Gangel Moon said in a voice sweet and sad. - A judge should glorify himself by severity towards the guilty and mercy towards the innocent. Therefore, we should not forget that rats are also God’s creatures, and moreover, they are not endowed with human intelligence...

But the chief judge, Kaspar Geller, cut him short:

Shut up, Judge Gangel Moon! Everyone knows that fleas, rats, toads and snakes are created by the devil.

The judges deliberated for a long time. Finally, Kaspar Geller stood up and announced the verdict in a loud voice:

- “We, by the grace of God, the judge of the city of Hamelin, are universally glorified for our incorruptible honesty and justice. Among all the other burdens that lie like a great burden on our shoulders, we are also concerned about the outrages committed in our glorious city of Hamelin by vile creatures bearing the ungodly name - rats Mus rattus. We, the judges of the city of Hamelin, find them guilty of violating order and piety, as well as theft and robbery.

It is also very regrettable to us that His Majesty the Rat King, having violated our strict order, did not appear at the trial, which undoubtedly indicates his malicious intent, bad conscience and baseness of soul.

Therefore, we order and command: all the mentioned rats, as well as the king of the entire rat tribe, by tomorrow noon, under pain of death, leave our glorious city, as well as all the lands belonging to it.

Then the rat, having set its tail on fire, was released so that it could convey to its entire family the strict order of the Hamelin court. The rat flashed like black lightning and disappeared.

And everyone again, having calmed down, went home.

The next day, in the morning, no, no, and residents came to the windows. They were waiting for the rats to move out of the city.

But they waited in vain. The sun had already begun to set, and the damned tribe did not even think about carrying out the court verdict.

And then suddenly terrible news flashed through! Unheard of!

On the night of the trial, the rats ate the judge's robe and hat from the chief judge, Kaspar Geller.

From such impudence, everyone just opened their mouths. The fat is in the fire!

And in fact, the rats in Hamelin kept coming and coming.

At night, candles flickered in many of the windows. When one candle burns out, they light another from the cinder, and so on until the morning. The burghers sat on high down jackets, not daring to put their feet out of bed.

No longer afraid of anyone, the rats scurried everywhere. Attracted by the aroma of roasting, they made their way to the kitchens. They looked out from the corners, wagging their noses, sniffing: “What does it smell like here?” They jumped on the tables and tried to steal the best piece right from the dishes. They even got to the hams and sausages suspended from the ceiling.

Whatever you miss, they gobble it all up, the damned ones.

And hunger was already knocking on the doors of many houses with a bony finger.

And then the burgomaster had the following dream: it was as if rats had been driven out of the houses of the previous owners. He, the venerable burgomaster of the city of Hamelin, wanders with a beggar's bag. Behind him is his wife and children. Timidly knocked on the door of his house. The door swung open - on the threshold was a rat the size of a man. On the chest is a golden burgomaster chain. She waved her paw - other rats in helmets and halberds attacked them: “Get out of here!” Beggars! Starving people!

The next morning the burgomaster gathered all the advisers in the town hall and told him his dream. The burghers looked at each other with alarm: “Oh, this is not good!”

Although there were burghers, one stingier than the other, they decided: not to spare anything, just to save the city from a terrible scourge.

Heralds marched through all the streets of Hamelin. They walked, breaking formation and order, huddled together, closer to each other. The city seems to have died out.

In deserted squares, on deserted streets, on bridges in complete silence, trumpets and the voices of heralds sounded strangely and ominously:

Whoever rids the glorious city of Hamelin of rats will receive from the magistrate as much gold as he can carry!

But three days passed, and no one showed up at the town hall.

On the fourth day, the bell again brought all the burghers to the town hall.

The burgomaster shook his sleeves for a long time, picking up the edges of his cloak - had a rat gotten in? The burghers became haggard, pale, and had black circles under their eyes. Where did the blush and thick cheeks go?

If the promised reward does not help, it is clear that there is nowhere else to wait for salvation.

Unable to bear it, the burgomaster covered his face with his hands and sobbed dully. That's it, it's over! Good old Hamelin is dying!

A guard ran into the hall and shouted:

Pied Piper!

A strange man limped through the door.

The stranger was tall and thin. His face is dark, as if he had been thoroughly smoked over a fire. The look is piercing. This look sent a chill down my spine.

There is a short cloak on the shoulders. One half of the camisole is black as night, the other is red as fire. A rooster feather is stuck into the side of the black cap. In his hand the stranger held an old pipe, darkened with time.

At another time, of course, the cautious burghers would have been wary of such a strange guest: they did not trust skinny tramps. But now everyone was happy to see him as the most welcome guest.

The burgomaster, calling him “my dear master,” himself pulled out a chair for him. Judge Kaspar Geller even tried to slap him on the shoulder. But then, with a loud cry, he pulled his hand away - his palm seemed to have been burned by fire.

The servants went down to the cellars and brought bottles of Malvasia, Rhine and Moselle.

The stranger grabbed a bottle of malvasia, pulled out the wax stopper with his teeth and, throwing back his head, drank the precious wine in one gulp. Without stopping, he emptied nine bottles in a row.

Do you still have a good barrel of wine? - asked the stranger.

After, after, my dear sir,” Gangel Moon said in a honeyed voice, “first business, and then the feast.”

And the burgomaster, no longer able to contain his impatience, asked the stranger directly:

Tell me, can you lead the rat tribe away from our city?

“I can,” the rat catcher grinned. - These creatures are under my control.

How? Every single one?.. - The burgomaster even stood up from his seat.

I will clear your city of rats. My word, rat catcher, is strong. But you will also keep yours. For this, give me as much gold as I can carry.

Thin as a pole and chrome to boot. This one won’t take away much... - the burgomaster whispered to Judge Kaspar Geller. And then, turning to the rat catcher, he said loudly and importantly: “Everything is as agreed, our honorable guest.” There will be no deception.

“So, don’t even think about breaking your word,” said the rat catcher and left the town hall.

The sky suddenly became gray and gloomy. Everything was shrouded in a cloudy fog. The crows that had clung to the spiers of the Cathedral of St. Boniface rose, circled, and strewn the entire sky with ominous cawing.

The rat catcher raised his pipe to his lips.

Drawing sounds flowed from the pipe.

In these sounds one could hear the tickling rustle of grain flowing in a trickle from a hole in the bag. The cheerful clicking of oil in a frying pan. The crunch of a cracker under sharp teeth.

The burghers standing at the windows gasped and involuntarily moved back.

Because at the sound of the pipes, rats began to run out of all the houses. They crawled out of basements and jumped from attics.

The rats surrounded the rat catcher on all sides.

And he indifferently walked, limping, out of the square. And every single rat ran after him. As soon as the pipe fell silent, the entire countless horde of rats stopped. But the pipe began to sing again. And again the rats obediently rushed after the rat catcher.

The rat catcher walked from street to street. There were more and more rats.

Butchers, sausage makers, shoemakers, and goldsmiths looked out of the windows. They grinned. Whatever you say, it’s nice to watch after the passing misfortune!

The innkeeper Johann Brandt stood in the doorway of the inn. The rats poured out of the door, almost knocking the fat man off his feet.

Following the rat catcher, all the rats moved to the city gates. The guards barely had time to take cover in the towers.

The rats left the city and stretched out along the road like a black ribbon. The last ones, the stragglers, ran across the drawbridge - and in pursuit of the rat catcher. Everything was covered in dust. The black cloak of a rat catcher, a hand with a pipe, a rooster feather flashed several times...

As they moved away, the pipe sounded quieter and quieter.

An hour later, shepherds came running to the city. Interrupting each other, they said:

The rat catcher came to the bank of the Weser River. He jumped into the boat, which was rocking right next to the shore. Without ceasing to play the pipe, the rat catcher swam out into the middle of the Weser. The rats rushed into the water and swam after him, and they swam until every one of them drowned. And there were so many of them that the mighty Weser overflowed its banks.

The city freed from rats rejoices.

The bells sound joyfully in all the cathedrals. Townspeople walk through the streets in cheerful crowds.

Glorious Hamelin has been saved! Rich Hamelin has been saved!

At the town hall, servants pour wine into silver goblets. It's not a sin to have a drink now.

Suddenly a rat catcher appeared from around the corner and walked across the square straight to the town hall. He still had the pipe in his hand. Only he was dressed differently: in a green hunter’s suit.

The burghers looked at each other. To pay? Eh no...

This rat catcher is wiry and strong,” the burgomaster whispered to Judge Kaspar Geller, “even though he is lame, he will carry away the entire treasury...

The Pied Piper entered the town hall. Nobody even looked in his direction. The burgomaster turned away, Kaspar Geller stared out the window.

But, apparently, the rat catcher was not so easily embarrassed. With a grin, he pulled out a bag from his bosom. This bag seemed bottomless to the burghers.

I kept my word. Now it’s up to you,” said the rat catcher. - As agreed. As much gold as I can carry...

My dear... - The burgomaster spread his hands in confusion and looked back at Gangel Moon.

How's that? Not a purse, not a bag - a whole bag of gold?.. - Judge Gangel Moon chuckled and bulged his eyes in feigned fear.

Someone else laughed quietly. What a sly Gangel Moon! This is how we need to turn things around! The gold was promised as a joke. But the poor fellow, apparently, had completely made up his mind: he believed everything. And I also took a bag with me.

Everyone started laughing. Burgomaster, advisers, shop foremen 6.

Bag of gold?

Ha ha ha!

A whole bag!

For what?

For stupid songs? For the pipe?

Give him the gold! Would you like a kick?

The burghers laughed for a long time. And the strange stranger stood silently, and some kind of evil joy appeared on his face. He would have asked kindly, demanded what was promised!.. No, he was silent.

The sly Gangel Moon, glancing warily at the rat catcher, leaned towards the burgomaster’s ear:

Maybe give him a handful of gold? So... a little, for show... And then impose a tax on the poorer people, who were not harmed by rats at all, because they didn’t own anything anyway.

But the burgomaster waved him off. He cleared his throat and said in an important but fatherly voice:

It is done. We must pay as promised. According to labor and pay. A purse of silver and exit from the city through any gate.

And the stranger immediately showed himself to be a complete ignoramus. He didn’t take the wallet and, without even bowing, turned his back and left the hall. It left behind a faint cloud of sulfur smoke.

At this point the burghers were really amused. It turned out great: we got rid of both the rats and the rat catcher at once.

The bells of St. Boniface ring loudly. All the burghers with their wives and servants went to the cathedral for Sunday mass.

And none of them hears that the pipe is singing again in the square.

"Can! Can! Can! - the pipe sings. - Today everything is possible! I will lead you to green groves! To the honey water meadows! Barefoot through puddles! Bury yourself in the hay! Can! Can! Can!"

The tramp of small shoes on wooden stairs, on stone steps...

Children are running out of all the doors. Having abandoned the game, abandoned the spinning wheel, pulling up a stocking as they run, the children run after the rat catcher, greedily catching the sounds of the pipe.

There are children from every home. There are children on every street.

They fall, break their knees, rub, blow and run on. Cheerful, with sticky fingers, sweets in their cheeks, a handful of nuts in their fists - children, the treasure of Hamelin.

The mayor's daughter Martha is running down the street. The pink dress is blown by the wind. And one foot was not wearing shoes, only one shoe was pulled on in a hurry.

Here are the city gates. The children stomped across the drawbridge. And the rat catcher takes them along the road, past the heather hills further and further...

Years passed.

One day a blind wanderer wandered into orphaned Hamelin.

For a few copper coins, the innkeeper let him warm up by the warm fireplace. The blind man heard mugs of beer knocking on a wooden table. And someone said:

Where did you come from, old man? Amuse us with a weirder story, and so be it, I’ll bring you a mug of beer too.

And the blind old man began the story:

I have traveled to many lands, and this is where fate once brought me. It is difficult for a blind person to keep track of time: by the warmth coming from the sun, by the cold coming from the night sky, I distinguish day from night. I wandered for a long time through the dense forest. Suddenly I heard the ringing of bells. For a blind man, sounds are the same as the light of a lighthouse for a helmsman. So, following the ringing of bells, I approached a city. The guards did not call out to me. I entered the gate and wandered down the street. I listened sensitively to all the sounds, trying to understand whether fate had led me to an unkind place.

And I couldn’t help but marvel. I heard only young voices around me. Laughter flew around me like a bird. In this city there was more running than walking. Someone was skipping ahead of me. Someone was running towards me. I heard the ball hitting the wall. All the voices were loud. All steps are easy and quick. And then I realized that this city was inhabited only by boys and girls. And it seemed to me: this whole city is made of light stone and sun rays.

I was warmly received in the first house where I knocked. And when I asked what the name of this city was, my young master told me a strange tale. I think he laughed at the poor old man, but I am not angry with the good young man. This is what he said.

When they were small children, they were taken away from their hometown by a man in green clothes who played the pipe. Apparently it was the devil himself, because he led them straight into the depths of a high mountain. But he did not have enough power to destroy innocent children, and after long wanderings in the darkness, the children passed through the mountain and found themselves in a deserted, wild place.

Then the deer came from the forest and fed the little ones with their milk. Wild goats were tamed without difficulty. At first the children lived in huts, and then they began to build a city. And they easily lifted huge stones, as if the stones themselves wanted to form into walls and towers...

And when the blind man finished his story, he heard old sighs, muffled sobs coming from the very depths of his soul. Muffled cough and groans.

Then the wanderer realized that there were only old people around him. And the whole city seemed gloomy, sad and made of dark stone to him.

But where, where, in what direction does that young, bright city lie?

But the beggar, blind wanderer could not tell them anything.