Pied Piper still lures

Press, 26 April 1984, Page 17

Pied Piper still lures

NZPA-Reuter Hameln, West Germany World-renowned poets, medieval historians, and' Japanese camera crews have all been drawn to the sleepy, provincial town of Hameln by one thing — the> ancient kidnap tale of the legendary Pied Piper. Hameln’s most famous son and valuable export is the Pied Piper or ratcatcher whose brief, extraordinary appearance in the town’s history books on June 26, 1284, is being celebrated this year, the 700th anniversary. The fantastic figure in rainbow-coloured clothes, described by the Grimm brothers, used a magical pipe to serenade rats to their death in a nearby river. When the town balked at paying him for the service, he led a column of 130 singing, dancing children out of Hameln, never to be seen again. Only two children, one dumb, the other blind, returned and neither could tell what really hap-

pened. The medieval mystery tale has inspired operas, plays, puppet theatre, marches, polkas, and poems, most notably by the German writer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and the . English poet, Robert Browning. Present interest appears to be greatest in Japan, which frequently sends camera crews to film in the town. Now that the anniversary has generated unusually high interest there and elsewhere, Hameln is gearing up to cash in on the event, hoping to double tourism receipts this summer to about 60 million marks ($35 million). Attractions will range from weekly children’s reenactments of the event to a 50 per cent proof “ratkiller” liquor brewed from 27 herbs. A museum exhibit will display ratcatcher parapheralia, medieval manuscripts, and Pied Piper research, spawned by curi-

osity over the fate of the children lured astray. The museum’s curator, Mr Norbert Humburg, believes the most viable theory, by the Hameln historian, Heinrich Spanuth, is that the children were conscripted to colonise Germany’s barely populated eastern territories, now eastern Europe. Another eighteenth century hypothesis holds that the children were led off to Holy crusades but never reached their destination. Mr Humburg says there is evidence of a crusade but it was in 1212, which was too early. Local townsfolk in 1726 thought a savage boy found roaming around Hameln was a descendant of the children and had been sent on a spy mission from Transylvania, Mr Humburg said. The boy, dubbed Savage Peter, was later presented to the English court by the writer, Jonathan Swift. It was the poet, Robert Browning, who anglicised the town name to Hamelin.

Ultimately, the varied national legends about the Pied Piper and his children reflect national ideologies, Mr Humburg said. In East bloc versions, the children simply die. A Prague artist, Adolf Bom, who contributed a painting to the Hameln exhibition, said Communist readers see the tale as a parable of hopeless attempts to escape oppression. But in the Walt Disney film version, the piper leads the children to a happy land of eternal youth — the American dream? Mr Humburg thinks so. In Japan, the piper appears in an advertisement for a rat poison firm and interest is so high that Hameln will this month send a group of children there to re-enact the legend. But in spite of overseas attention, local townsfolk today appear cool on the subject of the piper. “Well, it is just a story, isn’t it, but we are fully booked every summer,” one hotelier said.