The Pied Piper of Hamelin Story

The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a well-known story to most of us. For Indian students, the pied piper story is a part of their English stories too. The story has its origins in German folk tales. But the story is so interesting and moral-oriented that it is translated into more than 30 languages. 

What is the Pied Piper Story?

The pied piper story goes like this:

Once there was a town named Hamelin on the river Weser in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town had a mayor and a number of families living in it.

It so happened that once the city was infested with rats. All that the people could see was rats, rats, rats – everywhere!!

The people were so frustrated. The number of rats was never so high. They thought of rising cats and did so. But in vain! The rats were so high that they outnumbered the cats.  

Tired and frustrated, the people of the town approached the Hamelin mayor. The mayor found out the severity. Immediately, he announced two bags of gold coins to anyone who frees the Hamelin town from rats.

Many people heard this announcement. But no one could find a solution. Here’s where the story of the pied piper takes an interesting turn.

Enter the Pied Piper

The announcement reaches a Pied Piper. He is a strange, tall man with a strange cap. He had a mesmerizing talent for playing the flute. The Pied Piper visits the Mayor’s office and promises that he will free the city from the rat infestation.

Happy to hear this, the Mayor asks him to start his work.

The Pied Piper takes his flute. He starts playing the flute in a mesmerizing melody. Neither the town people nor the Mayor has heard of it before.

Playing the flute, the Pied Piper walks out of the Mayor’s office slowly. As he enters the street, rats come out of their holes and start following him!

One after the other, all rats in the Hamelin town start following the Pied Piper for the melodious music he was playing.

The Piper plays his music and takes him to the river. He keeps playing the flute and slowly walks into the river. The rats follow him into the water and drown unknowingly. 

Thus, all rats drown listening to the music of the Pied Piper’s flute!! Hamelin is now a rat-free city!!

Hamelin Mayor Breaks the Promise

The Pied Piper returns to the Mayor’s office and asks him for the gold as promised. 

Now, the townspeople and the Mayor do not want to pay him. “What did he do? Just played the flute?”, they thought to themselves.

They became selfish and forgot the promise they made to the Pied Piper.

“What gold? We never promised to pay you gold!”, the Hamelin Mayor said to the Pied Piper. The people supported the Mayor too.

Pied Piper takes Revenge

The moral of the story of the pied piper comes from here on.

Realizing that the folks of Hamelin cheated him, the Pied Piper comes up with a plan.

He again takes out his flute! This time he starts playing another melody that is unique to the people in the Hamelin.

As the music strikes the ears of the children in the town, one after the other, they start following him like how the rats just did!

Alas!! The people of Hamelin could do nothing but watch. All their children were following the Piper being lost in the music he played. 

He takes them to a big mountain and enters a cave. All the children follow him and go into the cave to listen to the music. 

Only one child who walks slowly due to an injury to the leg gets left behind!

He watches what just happened and rushes to his city to tell his parents what the Piper did.

Shocked by Piper’s revenge, the Mayor and the people reach the cave with the bags of gold. They convince him to open the cave door and hand them over to their children. In return, they promised him four bags of gold, double the original promised amount!

Also Read: The Ant and the Dove Story

Pied Piper disappears!

The piper agrees to this and releases the children, takes his rewards, and leaves the town. No one ever has seen the Piper, but from somewhere in the middle of the deep jungles, his melodies are still heard! 

Moral from the Story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin

Children, what did you understand from this interesting story of the Pied Piper?

We should never break our promises!

Suppose, we promise someone, we should keep it. If we break the promise, the bad effect comes to us in some form. 

God watches all the good and bad you do and punishes you for the broken promises. Because when you promise someone, the other person keeps hope in you. You should not spoil that hope. By breaking the promise you made, you have broken his hope as well as caused him pain.

Hence, always remember this moral from the story of the Pied Piper. Do share this story with your friends and siblings!! Read our adventure stories too. 

Also Read: Akbar and Birbal Stories