The story most of us know about the Pied Piper is that there was a town that was being infested with mice. No one knew how to get rid of this swarm. Finally, a hero emerged. This hero was a man who played some type of wind instrument, most likely a flute, to lure the mice out of the village. He was successful and the village was saved.
In the original version, this story was theorized to have actually occurred in Hamelin , Germany
The town was able to rid themselves of the mice by hiring the Pied Piper, but when it was time for them to pay him for the wonderful job he did, they refused. The Pied Piper was enraged by this and so he came up with a revenge plot. He uses his magical instrument to make every single child in the town follow him. The parents and elders just stare at him, thinking their children will stop eventually. The Pied Piper lured the children into the cave, the cave door shut, and the children were never to be found again. Only one lame boy survived because he could not keep up with all the other children.
Some versions have the children being drowned by the Pied Piper, while others have them safely returned when the elders finally pay up. The version that ends with the children being stuck in a cave is worse than any other. It causes your mind to wander about what could have actually happened to those poor children who were captured by an angry man.
This fairytale teaches you that promises, especially ones about money, should never be broken.
wow, I cant believe how mean these "fairtales" are. Who drowns a child. Thankfully, Disney took these stories and made them much more readable. To be honest i have never heard the real versons. Some of them are hilarious and others just scare me.
ReplyDeleteI never actually knew the story of the pied piper, but after this i think i might give it a shot. nice job!
ReplyDeleteYou know, why do all these children's stories have such horrific endings? I mean they're KIDS! However, it is a good way to scare them into doing things--and that's pretty funny :D But still...in my opinion it's still down-right bizarre.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering where you found the first image of the Pied Piper you have displayed here. I would love to use it as a program cover for the play. Thanks so much for your help.
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