In the year 1284, the town of Hameln, situated on the river Weser, in
Germany, became awfully infested with rats and mice. All kinds of traps,
poisons, and other means employed to destroy the vermin proved of no
avail, and the harassed citizens were actually at their wits' end what
to do. The plague grew daily more formidable until the people had every
reason to fear that before long not only their victuals but they
themselves would all be devoured.
When the misery had reached a height positively frightful, there
appeared in Hameln a strange man with a queer-shaped hat, who offered to
deliver the town from the scourge for a stipulated reward. Some say the
reward he demanded was a round sum of money; others maintain that he
wanted to marry the burgomaster's pretty daughter. Whatever it may have
been, there is certainly no doubt that it was readily promised him.
As soon as the bargain had been struck, the strange man drew from his
pocket a small pipe, began to play and walked through the streets of the
town. Presently, all the rats and mice came running out of their holes
and followed him. Lustily playing he marched with his odd army out of
the town and into the river Weser, where every rat and mouse was
drowned.
Then the inhabitants of Hameln rejoiced greatly, as after a victory over
a powerful enemy. But, when the strange man came to claim the promised
reward, they withheld it from him, and treated him with derision.
However, a few days afterwards, how sorely were they punished for their
ingratitude!
The enraged rat-catcher unexpectedly appeared, this time dressed
entirely in red. Strange to say, even his face and hands seemed to be
quite red. He took his pipe and walked through the streets, playing as
before. Presently, all the little children of Hameln came running out
of the houses and followed him. He marched with them out of the town
into the mountains, where he vanished with them into a deep hole in a
rock.
Some persons believe that the children afterwards came to light again,
very far off in Transylvania. At all events, there are villages in that
country in which the people speak the same language as in Hameln.
The gate through which the strange man took the children is still
extant, and there are other evidences of similar importance to be found
in Hameln, which prove to the satisfaction of certain respectable
citizens that the story is quite true in all its details.
The earliest record of the Rat-catcher of Hameln written in English is
probably the quaint one contained in 'A Restitution of decayed
Intelligence in Antiquities by the studie and travaile of Richard
Verstegan,' Antwerp, 1605. Verstegan concludes his relation with the
statement: "And this great wonder hapned on the 22 day of July, in the
yeare of our Lord one thowsand three hundreth seauentie and six." The
brothers Grimm, however, than whom a better authority could not be
adduced, say that according to the old records preserved in the
town-hall of Hameln the memorable event occurred on the 22nd of June,
Anno Domini 1284, and that there was formerly on the wall of the
town-hall the following old and oddly-spelt inscription:
Im Jahr 1284 na Christi gebort
Tho Hamel worden uthgewort
Hundert and dreiszig Kinder dasuelwest geborn
Dorch einen Piper under den Koeppen verlorn.[22]