The poem is based on an old myth found in many forms, all turning
upon the attempt to cheat a magician out of his promised reward. See
Brewer's _Reader's Handbook_, Baring-Gould's _Curious Myths
of the Middle Ages_, Grimm's _Deutsche Sagen_, and the
_Encyclopædia Britannica_. There are Persian and Chinese
analogues.
The eldest son of William Macready, the actor, was confined to the
house by illness, and Browning wrote this _jeu d'esprit_ to amuse
the boy and to give him a subject for illustrative drawings.
LINE 1. =Hamelin=. A town in Hanover, Prussia.