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68-718: It connects to the canal network running east–west across the North German Plain . The river, when combined with the Werra (a dialectal form of Weser ), is 744 km (462 mi) long and thus, the longest river entirely situated within Germany (the Main , however, is the longest if the Weser and Werra are not combined). The Weser itself is 452 km (281 mi) long. The Werra rises in Thuringia ,

136-501: A June day in the year 1284 from the German village of Hamelin ( Hameln in German). Udolph entered all the known family names in the village at that time and then started searching for matches elsewhere. He found that the same surnames occur with amazing frequency in the regions of Prignitz and Uckermark, both north of Berlin. He also found the same surnames in the former Pomeranian region, which

204-436: A common medieval trope. Some of the scenarios that have been suggested as fitting this theory include that the children drowned in the river Weser, were killed in a landslide or contracted some disease during an epidemic. Another modern interpretation reads the story as alluding to an event where Hamelin children were lured away by a pagan or heretic sect to forests near Coppenbrügge (the mysterious Koppen "hills" of

272-543: A different handwriting the following account: Here follows a marvellous wonder, which transpired in the town of Hamelin in the diocese of Minden, in this Year of Our Lord, 1284, on the Feast of Saints John and Paul. A certain young man thirty years of age, handsome and well-dressed, so that all who saw him admired him because of his appearance, crossed the bridges and entered the town by the West Gate. He then began to play all through

340-694: A dozen Westphalian place names show up in this area. Indeed there are five villages called Hindenburg running in a straight line from Westphalia to Pomerania, as well as three eastern Spiegelbergs and a trail of etymology from Beverungen south of Hamelin to Beveringen northwest of Berlin to Beweringen in modern Poland. Udolph favours the hypothesis that the Hamelin youths wound up in what is now Poland. Genealogist Dick Eastman cited Udolph's research on Hamelin surnames that have shown up in Polish phonebooks: Linguistics professor Jürgen Udolph says that 130 children did vanish on

408-456: A house known as Rattenfängerhaus (English: "Rat Catcher's House" or Pied Piper's House ) in Hamelin: anno 1284 am dage johannis et pauli war der 26. juni dorch einen piper mit allerley farve bekledet gewesen cxxx kinder verledet binnen hameln geboren to calvarie bi den koppen verloren (In the year 1284 on the day of [Saints] John and Paul on 26 June 130 children born in Hamelin were lured by

476-418: A hundred and thirty children who entered Calvary mount. Somewhere between 1559 and 1565, Count Froben Christoph von Zimmern included a version in his Zimmerische Chronik . This appears to be the earliest account which mentions the plague of rats. Von Zimmern dates the event only as "several hundred years ago" ( vor etlichen hundert jarn [ sic ]), so that his version throws no light on

544-484: A modern reconstruction of the window has been created by historian Hans Dobbertin. It features the colourful figure of the Pied Piper and several figures of children dressed in white. The window is generally considered to have been created in memory of a tragic historical event for the town; Hamelin town records also apparently start with this event. Although research has been conducted for centuries, no explanation for

612-533: A mother was bewailing her son. And as one counts the years according to the Year of Our Lord or according to the first, second or third year of an anniversary, so do the people in Hamelin reckon the years after the departure and disappearance of their children. This report I found in an old book. And the mother of the Dean Johann von Lüde saw the children depart. It is rendered in the following form in an inscription on

680-941: A part of the southern boundary of the plain: the Eifel , Bergisches Land and the Sauerland . In the east the North German Plain spreads out beyond the Harz Mountains and Kyffhäuser further to the south as far as the Central Saxon hill country and the foothills of the Ore Mountains . It is known that the North German Plain was formed during the Pleistocene era as a result of the various glacial advances of terrestrial Scandinavian ice sheets as well as by periglacial geomorphologic processes. The terrain may be considered as part of

748-458: A piper clothed in many colours to Calvary near the Koppen, [and] lost) According to author Fanny Rostek-Lühmann this is the oldest surviving account. Koppen ( High German Kuppe , meaning a knoll or domed hill) seems to be a reference to one of several hills surrounding Hamelin. Which of them was intended by the manuscript's author remains uncertain. A similar inscription can be found on

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816-499: A place called Koppenberg Mountain, or Transylvania. In yet other versions, he made them walk into the Weser as he did with the rats, and they all drowned . Or, the Piper returned the children after extorting payment, or the children were returned only after the villagers paid several times the original payment in gold. The Hamelin street named Bungelosenstrasse ("street without drums")

884-574: A prose version underneath: Maria audi nos, tibi Filius nil negat. Post duo C. C. mille post octoginta quaterue —Annus hic est ille, quo languet sexus uterque— Orbantis pueros centumque triginta Joannis Et Pauli caros Hamelenses non sine damnis, Fatur, ut omnes eos vivos Calvaria sorpsit, Christi tuere reos, ne tam mala res quibus obsit. Anno millesimo ducentesimo octuagesimo quarto in die Johannis et Pauli perdiderunt Hamelenses centum et triginta pueros, qui intraverunt montem Calvariam. Mary, hear us, for your Son denies you nothing. 1284

952-452: Is believed to be the last place that the children were seen. Ever since, music or dancing is not allowed on this street. The earliest mention of the story seems to have been on a stained-glass window placed in the Church of Hamelin c.  1300 . The window was described in several accounts between the 14th and 17th centuries. It was destroyed in 1660. Based on the surviving descriptions,

1020-411: Is called Beverungen and has an almost exact counterpart called Beveringen, near Pritzwalk, north of Berlin and another called Beweringen, near Starogard. Local Polish telephone books list names that are not the typical Slavic names one would expect in that region. Instead, many of the names seem to be derived from German names that were common in the village of Hamelin in the thirteenth century. In fact,

1088-726: Is drained by rivers that flow northwards into the North Sea or the Baltic and tributaries to the Rhine river that flows West. The Rhine, Ems , Weser , Elbe and Havel are the most important rivers which drain the North German Lowlands into the North Sea and created woods in their flood plains and folds, e.g. the Spreewald ("Spree Forest"). Only a small area of the North German Plain falls within

1156-728: Is linked east at Bremerhaven to the Elbe . A large reservoir, the Edersee , on the Eder , the main tributary of the Fulda, is used to allow enough water depth for shipping year-round. The dam, built in 1914, was bombed and severely damaged by British aircraft in May 1943, causing great destruction and about 70 deaths downstream. It was rebuilt within four months. The reservoir is a major summer resort area. Turbines driven by its sluices provide electricity . The Weser enters

1224-574: Is now a part of Poland. Udolph surmises that the children were actually unemployed youths who had been sucked into the German drive to colonize its new settlements in Eastern Europe. The Pied Piper may never have existed as such, but, says the professor, "There were characters known as lokators who roamed northern Germany trying to recruit settlers for the East." Some of them were brightly dressed, and all were silver-tongued. Professor Udolph can show that

1292-507: Is provided credence by the fact that family names common to Hamelin at the time "show up with surprising frequency in the areas of Uckermark and Prignitz, near Berlin." Historian Ursula Sautter, citing the work of linguist Jürgen Udolph, offers this hypothesis in support of the emigration theory: "After the defeat of the Danes at the Battle of Bornhöved in 1227," explains Udolph, "the region south of

1360-412: Is that year when members of both sexes languish (through weakness), the year of the day John and Paul, which the 130 dear children of Hamelin swept away and not without doom. It is said that Calvary swallowed them alive. Christ, protect the guilty so that no similar evil fate overtake them. In the year one thousand two hundred and eighty-four, on the day of John and Paul, the Hamelin lost

1428-491: The Altes Land near Hamburg , which is characterised by relatively mild temperatures year round due to the proximity of the North Sea and lower Elbe river, providing excellent conditions for fruit production. Azonal vegetation complexes of moors, riparian forests, fens and water bodies originally stretched along the rivers Ems , Weser , Elbe , Havel and Spree . Distinctive salt marshes , tideflats and tidal reed beds in

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1496-709: The German state south of the main projection (tongue) of Lower Saxony. "Weser" and "Werra" are the same words in different dialects. The difference reflects the old linguistic border between Central and Low German , passing through Hannoversch Münden. The name likely derives from the Old Germanic *waisōn "flow, ooze". It is cognate with the Wear in England and Vistula (Polish Wisła, German Weichsel) in Poland, all of which are derived from

1564-688: The Pan Piper or the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin ) is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony , Germany . The legend dates back to the Middle Ages . The earliest references describe a piper, dressed in multicoloured (" pied ") clothing, who was a rat catcher hired by the town to lure rats away with his magic pipe . When the citizens refused to pay for this service as promised, he retaliated by using his instrument's magical power on their children, leading them away as he had

1632-689: The Porta Westfalica between two high hill ranges, the Wiehengebirge , west and the Weserbergland in the east. Between Minden and the North Sea, humans have largely canalised the river up to a limit of 1,200-ton ships. Eight hydroelectric dams stand at the ends of adjacent weirstreams that make up the river. The navigation is linked west to the Dortmund–Ems Canal via the Coastal Canal . It

1700-509: The Proto-Indo-European root * weys- "to flow", which also gives rise to Old English/Old Frisian wāse "mud, ooze", Old Norse veisa "slime, stagnant pool", Dutch waas "haze; soggy land" (see Waasland ), Old Saxon waso "wet ground, mire", Old High German wasal "rain" and French vase "mud, sludge". The Weser starts at the confluence of the Fulda and the Werra. It then runs down to

1768-682: The Roter Sand Lighthouse in 1964. The largest tributary of the Weser is the Aller , which joins south of Bremen. Tributaries of the Weser and the Werra (from source to mouth) are: Modes of the list: List: Main towns along the Weser are (from the head of the river to its mouth): Hann. Münden , Beverungen , Höxter , Holzminden , Bodenwerder , Hamelin , Hessisch Oldendorf , Rinteln , Vlotho , Bad Oeynhausen , Porta Westfalica , Minden , Petershagen , Nienburg , Achim , Bremen , Brake , Nordenham , Bremerhaven . The river features in

1836-528: The estuaries existed permanently in the tidal zone of the North Sea coast. The natural vegetation of the North German Plain is thought to have been forest formed mainly by the dominant species European Beech (Fagetalia). According to Germany's Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, the BfN , the North German Plain consists of the natural regions listed below. Where possible, their names have been derived from authoritative English-language source(s), as indicated by

1904-450: The relative pronoun , which normally starts the relative clause. Some researchers believe that the tale has inspired the common English phrase "pay the piper". This phrase implies that the person who provides payment or funding for something has the authority to dictate how it should be done. However, the phrase "pay the piper" may also be a contraction of the English proverb "he who pays

1972-595: The "Wedding-house or Hochzeitshaus, a fine structure erected between 1610 and 1617 for marriage festivities, but diverted from its purpose since 1721. Behind rises the spire of the parish church of St. Nicholas which, in the words of an English book of folklore, may still "enwall stones that witness how the parents prayed, while the Piper wrought sorrow for them without": Nach Christi Geburt 1284 Jahr Gingen bei den Koppen unter Verwahr Hundert und dreissig Kinder, in Hameln geboren von einem Pfeiffer verfürt und verloren In

2040-502: The Baltic Sea, which was then inhabited by Slavs, became available for colonization by the Germans." The bishops and dukes of Pomerania, Brandenburg, Uckermark and Prignitz sent out glib "locators", medieval recruitment officers, offering rich rewards to those who were willing to move to the new lands. Thousands of young adults from Lower Saxony and Westphalia headed east. And as evidence, about

2108-505: The Börde areas (Hildesheim Börde, Magdeburg Börde, with their fertile, loess soils). High-level bog peat can be found in the poorest soils, e.g. in the Teufelsmoor . In the loess areas of the lowland are found the oldest settlement locations in Germany ( Linear Pottery culture ). The northeastern part of the plain (Young Drift) is geomorphologically distinct and contains a multitude of lakes (e.g.

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2176-529: The Fulda Gap option was seen as the most likely invasion route because of easier and closer access to tactical and strategic goals important for an invasion of Western Europe. Of the two North German plain invasion options, the southern route of the attack, which had the better strategic opportunities, would have been led by the Soviet Third Shock Army . The plain's geography, which makes it suitable for

2244-570: The Germans who about that time made their appearance in Transylvania to be no other than the lost children of Hameln, who, having performed their long journey by subterranean passages, reissued to the light of day through the opening of a cavern known as the Almescher Höhle, in the north-east of Transylvania." Transylvania had suffered under lengthy Mongol invasions of Central Europe, led by two grandsons of Genghis Khan and which date from around

2312-508: The Hamelin exodus should be linked with the Battle of Bornhöved in 1227 which broke the Danish hold on Eastern Europe. That opened the way for German colonization, and by the latter part of the thirteenth century there were systematic attempts to bring able-bodied youths to Brandenburg and Pomerania. The settlement, according to the professor's name search, ended up near Starogard in what is now northwestern Poland. A village near Hamelin, for example,

2380-631: The Mueritz lake in the Mecklenburg Lake Plateau ) which are vestiges of the last ice age. The retreating glaciers left this landscape behind around 16,000 to 13,000 years ago. In comparison, the dry plains of northwestern Germany (Lower Saxony, western Schleswig-Holstein, and the Bochum area of North Rhine Westphalia) are more heavily weathered and levelled ( Old Drift ) as the last large scale glaciations here occurred at least 130,000 years ago. The region

2448-471: The North Sea in the southernmost part of the German Bight . In the sea it splits into two arms – the riverbed at the end of the last ice age . These sea arms are called Alte Weser (old Weser) and Neue Weser (new Weser). They are the waterways for ships heading for the ports of Bremerhaven , Nordenham , and Bremen . The Alte Weser Lighthouse marks the northernmost point of the Weser. This replaced

2516-573: The Old or Young Drift ( Alt- or Jungmoräne ), depending on whether or not it was formed by the ice sheets of the last glacial period, the Weichselian Ice Age . The surface relief varies from level to undulating. The lowest points are low moorlands and old marshland on the edge of the ridge of dry land in the west of Schleswig-Holstein (the Wilster Marsh is 3.5 m (11 ft) below sea level) and in

2584-486: The Teutonic Land. It is assumed that in past times all people of a town were referred to as "children of the town" or "town children" as is frequently done today. The "Legend of the children's Exodus" was later connected to the "Legend of expelling the rats". This most certainly refers to the rat plagues being a great threat in the medieval milling town and the more or less successful professional rat catchers . The theory

2652-553: The catchment area of the Oder and Neiße rivers which drain into the Baltic. The North Sea coast and the adjacent coastal areas of the facing East and North Frisian Islands are characterised by a maritime climate . South of the coast, a broad band of maritime and sub-maritime climate stretches from the east coast of Schleswig-Holstein to the western edges of the Central Uplands . To

2720-547: The city's connection to the story remains so strong that, in 2009, Hamelin held a tourist festival to mark the 725th anniversary of the disappearance of the town's earlier children. The Rat Catcher's House is popular with visitors, although it bears no connection to the Rat-Catcher version of the legend. Indeed, the Rattenfängerhaus is instead associated with the story due to the earlier inscription upon its facade mentioning

2788-473: The conflict of dates (see next paragraph). Another contemporary account is that of Johann Weyer in his De praestigiis daemonum (1563). A number of theories suggest that children died of some natural causes such as disease or starvation, and that the Piper was a symbolic figure of Death . Analogous themes which are associated with this theory include the Dance of Death , Totentanz or Danse Macabre ,

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2856-637: The deployment of armored and mechanized maneuver , led to it being identified as a major invasion route into West Germany . The defense of the Plain was the responsibility of NATO's Northern Army Group and Second Allied Tactical Air Force , made up of German, Dutch, Belgian, British, and some US forces. 53°36′N 10°24′E  /  53.600°N 10.400°E  / 53.600; 10.400 Pied Piper of Hamelin The Pied Piper of Hamelin ( German : der Rattenfänger von Hameln , also known as

2924-577: The event. An article by James P. O'Donnell in The Saturday Evening Post (December 24, 1955) tells how an elderly German researcher, Heinrich Spanuth, discovered the earliest version of the story in the Luneberg city archives in 1936. On the back of the last tattered page of a dusty chronicle called The Golden Chain , written in Latin in 1370 by the monk Heinrich of Herford , there is written in

2992-441: The facts) to avoid the wrath of the church or the king. William Manchester 's A World Lit Only by Fire places the events in 1484, and further proposes that the Pied Piper was a psychopathic paedophile . "The Piper is coming nearer," he said, "he is nearer than he was that evening I saw him before. His long, shadowy cloak is blowing around him. He pipes—he pipes—and we must follow—Jem and Carl and Jerry and I—round and round

3060-532: The flute, followed the stranger.  They left Hamelin by the Eastern gate and disappeared at Kalvarien Hill.  This is the oldest known account of this occurrence. Around this time a verse of rhyme is found in "zu Hameln im Kloster".  It tells about the children's disappearance.  It is written in red ink on the title page of a missal.  It bewails "the 130 beloved Hamelner children" who were "eaten alive by Calvaria".  The original verses are probably

3128-437: The historical event is universally accepted as true. In any case, the rats were first added to the story in a version from c.  1559 and are absent from earlier accounts. Decan Lude of Hamelin was reported c.  1384 to have in his possession a chorus book containing a Latin verse giving an eyewitness account of the event. The Lüneburg manuscript ( c.  1440–50 ) gives an early German account of

3196-651: The legend and folk tale the Pied Piper of Hamelin . North German Plain The North German Plain or Northern Lowland ( German : Norddeutsches Tiefland ) is one of the major geographical regions of Germany . It is the German part of the North European Plain . The region is bounded by the coasts of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to the north, Germany's Central Uplands ( die Mittelgebirge ) to

3264-483: The names in today's Polish telephone directories include Hamel, Hamler and Hamelnikow, all apparently derived from the name of the original village. Some theories have linked the disappearance of the children to mass psychogenic illness in the form of dancing mania . Dancing mania outbreaks occurred during the 13th century, including one in 1237 in which a large group of children travelled from Erfurt to Arnstadt (about 20 km (12 mi)), jumping and dancing all

3332-923: The northwest of Lower Saxony (Freepsum, 2.3 m (7.5 ft) below sea level). The highest points may be referred to as Vistula and Hall glaciation terminal moraines (depending on the ice age which formed them) – e.g., on the Fläming Heath (200 m (660 ft) above sea level) and the Helpt Hills 179 m (587 ft)). Following the ice ages, rain-fed, raised bogs originated in western and northern Lower Saxony during warm periods of high precipitation (as influenced by Medieval Warm Period). These bogs were formerly widespread but much of this terrain has now been drained or otherwise superseded. The coastal areas consist of Holocene lake and river marshes and lagoons connected to Pleistocene Old and Young Drift terrain in various stages of formation and weathering. After or during

3400-483: The oldest written source of this legend.  It has been missing for hundreds of years. However, different versions of transcriptions of handwritten copies still exist. One was published by Heinrich Meibom in 1688. Another was included by Johann Daniel Gottlieb Herr under the title Passionale Sanctorum in Collectanea zur Geschichte der Stadt Hameln . His manuscript is dated 1761. There are some Latin verses which had

3468-425: The people of Hamelin, which had been attacked by plague ; he drove the rats from Hamelin, saving the people from the epidemic. In 1284, while the town of Hamelin was suffering from a rat infestation, a piper dressed in multicoloured ("pied") clothing appeared, claiming to be a rat-catcher. He promised the mayor a solution to their problem with the rats. The mayor , in turn, promised to pay him 1,000 guilders for

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3536-400: The piper calls the tune." This proverb, in contrast to the modern interpretation of paying a debt, suggests that the person who bears the financial responsibility for something also has the right to determine how it should be carried out. The present-day city of Hamelin continues to maintain information about the Pied Piper legend and possible origins of the story on its website. Interest in

3604-412: The poem) for ritual dancing where they all perished during a sudden landslide or collapsing sinkhole . Speculation on the emigration theory is based on the idea that, by the 13th century, overpopulation of the area resulted in the oldest son owning all the land and power ( majorat ), leaving the rest as serfs. It has also been suggested that one reason the emigration of the children was never documented

3672-458: The rats. This version of the story spread as folklore and has appeared in the writings of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , the Brothers Grimm , and Robert Browning , among others. The phrase "pied piper" has become a metaphor for a person who attracts a following through charisma or false promises. There are many contradictory theories about the Pied Piper. Some suggest he was a symbol of hope to

3740-421: The references. During the Cold War , in the event of war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact , NATO military strategists identified the North German plain as an area that could have been used for two of three major invasion routes into Western Europe by Warsaw Pact forces. The third route was the Fulda Gap further south. The North German plain routes were the best attack options for an attacking army. However,

3808-399: The removal of the rats. The piper accepted and played his pipe to lure the rats into the Weser River , where all the rats drowned. Despite the piper's success, the mayor reneged on his promise and refused to pay him the full sum (reputedly reduced to 50 guilders) even going so far as to blame the piper for bringing the rats himself in an extortion attempt. Enraged, the piper stormed out of

3876-431: The retreat of the glaciers, wind-borne sand often formed dunes, which were later fixed by vegetation. Human intervention caused the emergence of open heath such as the Lüneburg Heath , and measures such as deforestation and the so-called Plaggenhieb (removal of the topsoil for use as fertilizer elsewhere) caused a wide impoverishment of the soil ( Podsol ). The most fertile soils are the young marshes ( Auen-Vegen ) and

3944-451: The south east and east, the climate becomes increasingly subcontinental: characterised by temperature differences between summer and winter which progressively increase away from the tempering effect of the ocean. Locally, a drier continental climate can be found in the rain shadow of the Harz and some smaller areas of upland like the Drawehn and the Fläming . Special microclimates occur in bogs and heathlands and, for example, in

4012-417: The south, by the Netherlands to the west and Poland to the east. In the west, the southern boundary of the North German Plain is formed by the Lower Saxon Hills : specifically the ridge of the Teutoburg Forest , the Wiehen Hills , the Weser Hills and the Lower Saxon Börde, which partly separate it from that area of the Plain known as the Westphalian Lowland . Elements of the Rhenish Massif also act

4080-530: The time of the earliest appearance of the legend of the piper, the early 13th century. In the version of the legend posted on the official website for the town of Hamelin, another aspect of the emigration theory is presented: Among the various interpretations, reference to the colonization of East Europe starting from Low Germany is the most plausible one: The "Children of Hameln" would have been in those days citizens willing to emigrate being recruited by landowners to settle in Moravia, East Prussia, Pomerania or in

4148-405: The town a silver pipe of the most magnificent sort. All the children who heard his pipe, in the number of 130, followed him to the East Gate and out of the town to the so-called execution place or Calvary. There they proceeded to vanish, so that no trace of them could be found. The mothers of the children ran from town to town, but they found nothing. It is written: A voice was heard from on high, and

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4216-433: The town, vowing to return later to take revenge . On Saint John and Paul 's day, while the adults were in church, the piper returned, dressed in green like a hunter and playing his pipe. In so doing, he attracted the town's children . One hundred and thirty children followed him out of town and into a mountains’ cave, after which they were never seen again. Depending on the version, at most three children remained behind: one

4284-471: The way, in marked similarity to the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, which originated at around the same time. Others have suggested that the children left Hamelin to be part of a pilgrimage , a military campaign , or even a new Children's Crusade (which is said to have occurred in 1212) but never returned to their parents. These theories see the unnamed Piper as their leader or a recruiting agent. The townspeople made up this story (instead of recording

4352-542: The world. Listen—listen—can't you hear his wild music?" In linguistics , pied-piping is the common name for the ability of question words and relative pronouns to drag other words along with them when brought to the front, as part of the phenomenon called Wh-movement . For example, in "For whom are the pictures?", the word "for" is pied-piped by "whom" away from its declarative position ("The pictures are for me"), and in "The mayor, pictures of whom adorn his office walls" both words "pictures of" are pied-piped in front of

4420-435: The year 1556, 272 years after the magician stole 130 children from the city, this gate was founded. The Hamelin Museum writes: In the mid 14th Century, a monk from Minden, Heinrich von Herford, puts together a collection of holy legends called the "Catena Aurea".  It speaks of a "miracle" that took place in 1284 in Hamelin.  A youth appeared and played on a strange silver flute.  Every child that heard

4488-487: The year of Our Lord 1284 went into the Koppen under custody 130 children born in Hamelin by a piper seduced and lost A portion of the town gate dating from the year 1556 is currently exhibited at the Hamelin Museum. According to Hamelin Museum, this stone is the oldest surviving sculptural evidence for the legend. It bears the following inscription: Anno 1556 / Centu[m] ter denos C[um] mag[us] ab urbe puellos / Duxerat a[n]te a[n]nos 272. Condita porta fuit In

4556-407: Was lame and could not follow quickly enough, the second was deaf and therefore could not hear the music, and the last was blind and therefore unable to see where he was going. These three informed the villagers of what had happened when they came out from church. Other versions relate that the Pied Piper led the children to the top of Koppelberg Hill, where he took them to a beautiful land, or

4624-441: Was that the children were sold to a recruiter from the Baltic region of Eastern Europe, a practice that was common at the time. In his book The Pied Piper: A Handbook , Wolfgang Mieder states that historical documents exist showing that people from the area including Hamelin did help settle parts of Transylvania . Emily Gerard reports in The Land Beyond the Forest an element of the folktale that "popular tradition has averred

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