Many generations have heard the story of the magical flute player who kidnapped more than 100 children.
The story of the flute player of Hamelin
When, Io!
A magical gate opens wide,
It was as if the cave had suddenly been deepened;
And the flute player went first, and the children followed,
Then everyone walked until the last one,
The door on the mountainside suddenly closed.
Robert Browning’s poem in The Pied Piper of Hamelin: A Child’s Story summarizes this bizarre fairy tale.
The very next day, a young man in colorful clothes came and offered to chase away rats to help the people in the town to receive a reward.
The whole town only had one or three children left, depending on the version.
A real event in history
The earliest known record of this story comes from the town of Hamelin itself.
The street where the children are said to have last appeared is called Bungelosen Strasse (street without drums), because no one is allowed to play music or dance there.
Scary theories about the fate of the children of Hamelin
If the children didn’t disappear because of the flute player’s revenge like the fairy tale says, then what happened to them?
– The children did not leave but actually all died in the Black Death epidemic and the flute player is a metaphor for death.
– The children were not seduced by anyone but were sent away by their parents because of poverty.
– The children participated in the child crusades and all perished in the area corresponding to present-day Romania.
– Another, brighter hypothesis is that the children are associated with the migration of some Germans to the colonies in Eastern Europe.
In addition, it cannot be ruled out that the event at Hamelin is related to the `dancing mania` that was recorded in Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries. Most of the victims were described as `dancing`.
Although the mystery of the flute player of Hamelin has not been clarified, through the remaining records, perhaps the event it refers to is too haunting.