Hamelin is a pretty little German town
Once upon a time, Hamelin suffered from a plague of rats. The nasty, bold creatures ate everything they could find and even bit the babies in their cradles.
The people did everything they do to get rid of the rats. but all their efforts failed.
The rats reigned in Hamelin.
Then the people went to the Mayor and the Town Councillors and insisted that they do something about the rats.
The Mayor and the Councillors conferred together and decided to offer a reward of one thousand guilders to anyone who could rid Hamelin of the rats. The next day the Town Crier took this message all over Hamelin. Now, the people of Hamelin doubled and trebled their efforts to get rid of the rats.
But neither traps, poisons and other means succeeded in ridding Hamelin of rats.
The Pied Piper
The people decided to go to meet the Mayor and Councillors again. They were angry. The mayor and the Councillors knew this and they locked themselves in the Town Council. The people beat on the door.
Suddenly,a gust of wind blew through the Councol Chamber. With me came a man dressed in red and yellow and carrying a long a pipe. He told the Mayorthat he had come half way round the world to rid Hamelin of the rats. He also said he was the Pied Piper. A delighted Mayor promised him not one thousand guilders but one hundred thousand guilders.
The Pied Piper played a lilting and haunting Melody on his pipe. And lo and behold, the rats came out and followed him. He went on the pier and jumped on to a boat moored there.
The rats tumbled into the water and did so throughout the night while the Pied Piper played on.
By morning all the rats in Hamelin were drowned and the Piper went to claim his reward. But the Mayor laughed and offered him much less guilders and dared him to do anything he wanted.
Children
An angry Piper went out and started playing another quaint tune. All the children of Hamelin followed him while their parents watched spellbound. The Pied Piper went up a nearby hill.
The hill suddenly split open and the Piper and the children went inside and the hill closed up again.
Now, there were no children in Hamelin except for one lame boy. He could not keep up with the others.
He was sad as the Pied Pipers music was indicative of many magical things for the chilfren.
The parents waited in cain but their children never came back to Hamelin.