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(BBC-US)   The town of Hamelin in Lower Saxony, Germany, employs a professional Pied Piper to promote tourism. Some people don't know the fable and think he's a court jester, a superhero, a gender-fluid woke SJW, Robin Hood, or... wait a sec; back up one   (bbc.com) divider line
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    More: Interesting, Brothers Grimm, Fairy tales, Pied Piper of Hamelin, Lower Saxony, 2nd millennium, Pied Piper, John and Paul, medieval streets of Hamelin  
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2832 clicks; posted to Main » on 04 Sep 2020 at 6:31 AM (2 years ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



35 Comments     (+0 »)
View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest
 
fluffy_pope
2020-09-04 2:23:39 AM  
William Manchester said he was a pedo, but he was kinda nutty by then
 
sirrerun
2020-09-04 3:52:41 AM  
Silicon Valley - Dinesh
Youtube oTD-x9tJa2M
 
orbister
2020-09-04 6:37:55 AM  
We live in sad times when a woman who wants be an engineer or a man who wants to be a ballet dancer are told they are "gender non-conforming" and expelled from the pack.
 
Laobaojun
2020-09-04 6:45:46 AM  
Sounds an awful lot like Kevin Bacon and his pelvic sorcery.
 
ModernLuddite
2020-09-04 6:57:27 AM  
Man, that's creepy. 

Town records show that 130 children vanished on June 26, 1284. But not WHAT. It was so bad that it remained in the collective memory of the town, but the specifics are gone.
 
Moosedick Gladys Greengroin
2020-09-04 6:59:11 AM  
The earliest known ' influencer '?
 
crinz83
2020-09-04 7:07:30 AM  
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big pig peaches
2020-09-04 7:09:56 AM  

ModernLuddite: Man, that's creepy. 

Town records show that 130 children vanished on June 26, 1284. But not WHAT. It was so bad that it remained in the collective memory of the town, but the specifics are gone.


Probably a local version of this.

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
EdwardTellerhands
2020-09-04 7:12:31 AM  
ychef.files.bbci.co.ukView Full Size


DAWWW! Adorable.
 
haknudsen
2020-09-04 7:14:57 AM  
or it was a reference to the Children's Crusade.
 
fluffy_pope
2020-09-04 7:22:11 AM  

big pig peaches: ModernLuddite: Man, that's creepy. 

Town records show that 130 children vanished on June 26, 1284. But not WHAT. It was so bad that it remained in the collective memory of the town, but the specifics are gone.

Probably a local version of this.

[Fark user image 425x628]


Fark user imageView Full Size


Go home, Death. You're drunk.
 
uttertosh [OhFark]
2020-09-04 7:23:01 AM  

haknudsen: or it was a reference to the Children's Crusade.


Wait... Wasn't that the name of a NAMBLA foreign-exchange student program?
 
MagicBoris
2020-09-04 7:57:19 AM  
Sure, 130 children died, but on the other hand, this story gave birth to one of the greatest gifs of all time:

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
winedrinkingman
2020-09-04 8:09:08 AM  

haknudsen: or it was a reference to the Children's Crusade.


Wrong year.  There were still pagan communities in central Europe at the time.  Article suggests two plausible theories.  One was that it was actaully a group of young couples that left to go settle in Eastern Europe, or it was ai group of pagan children that went up to the hills for a bonfire celebration, but got massacred by Christian's.  It would have been the right time of year for that kind of celebration, it was exactly the kind if thing the Christian's were doing to the few remaining pagan worshipers at the time, and it is something the town would have memorialized without getting too specific less the Christian's murder them for calling out Christian's for being murderers.
 
Noah_Tall
2020-09-04 8:23:29 AM  
It was time travelers. In the future when coronavirus has rendered everybody sterile time travelers are sent back to retrieve breeding stock from a time before the virus had permanently altered everyone's genetic code. This is behind most of the mysterious group disappearances throughout history.
 
haknudsen
2020-09-04 8:44:12 AM  

winedrinkingman: haknudsen: or it was a reference to the Children's Crusade.

Wrong year.  There were still pagan communities in central Europe at the time.  Article suggests two plausible theories.  One was that it was actaully a group of young couples that left to go settle in Eastern Europe, or it was ai group of pagan children that went up to the hills for a bonfire celebration, but got massacred by Christian's.  It would have been the right time of year for that kind of celebration, it was exactly the kind if thing the Christian's were doing to the few remaining pagan worshipers at the time, and it is something the town would have memorialized without getting too specific less the Christian's murder them for calling out Christian's for being murderers.


Well, I read that theory a few years ago.  Didn't know there were actual records for this.  I stand corrected.
 
UNC_Samurai
2020-09-04 9:03:58 AM  
You should have heard the old men cry,
You should have heard the biddies
When that sad stranger raised his flute
And piped away the kiddies.
Katy, Tommy, Meg and Bob
Followed, skipped gaily,
Red-haired Ruth, my brother Rob,
And little crippled Bailey,
John and Nils and Cousin Claire,
Dancin', spinnin', turnin',
'Cross the hills to God knows where-
They never came returnin'.
'Cross the hills to God knows where
The piper pranced, a leadin'
Each child in Hamlin Town but me,
And I stayed home unheedin'.
My papa says that I was blest
For if that music found me,
I'd be witch-cast like all the rest.
This town grows old around me.
I cannot say I did not hear
That sound so haunting hollow-
I heard, I heard, I heard it clear...
I was afraid to follow.
 
mononymous
2020-09-04 9:31:44 AM  
Moral of the story: If you hire someone for a job, and he does it, you better farking pay him.
 
1funguy
2020-09-04 9:53:11 AM  

Noah_Tall: It was time travelers. In the future when coronavirus has rendered everybody sterile time travelers are sent back to retrieve breeding stock from a time before the virus had permanently altered everyone's genetic code. This is behind most of the mysterious group disappearances throughout history.


But then sent them all to public schools in the fall of 2020...so nothing gained...
 
Billy Liar
2020-09-04 9:53:50 AM  
Well, of course.  Without a massive number of rats to follow him around, his being there is completely out of context.

/Champion Lawn Dart player
 
wingedkat [TotalFark]
2020-09-04 9:55:05 AM  

winedrinkingman: haknudsen: or it was a reference to the Children's Crusade.

Wrong year.  There were still pagan communities in central Europe at the time.  Article suggests two plausible theories.  One was that it was actaully a group of young couples that left to go settle in Eastern Europe, or it was ai group of pagan children that went up to the hills for a bonfire celebration, but got massacred by Christian's.  It would have been the right time of year for that kind of celebration, it was exactly the kind if thing the Christian's were doing to the few remaining pagan worshipers at the time, and it is something the town would have memorialized without getting too specific less the Christian's murder them for calling out Christian's for being murderers.


Makes me wonder how the rats became part of the story.

/Captain of the Moon Cheese Harvest
 
fark'emfeed'emfish [OhFark]
2020-09-04 10:00:37 AM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
DerAppie
2020-09-04 10:17:26 AM  

wingedkat: winedrinkingman: haknudsen: or it was a reference to the Children's Crusade.

Wrong year.  There were still pagan communities in central Europe at the time.  Article suggests two plausible theories.  One was that it was actaully a group of young couples that left to go settle in Eastern Europe, or it was ai group of pagan children that went up to the hills for a bonfire celebration, but got massacred by Christian's.  It would have been the right time of year for that kind of celebration, it was exactly the kind if thing the Christian's were doing to the few remaining pagan worshipers at the time, and it is something the town would have memorialized without getting too specific less the Christian's murder them for calling out Christian's for being murderers.

Makes me wonder how the rats became part of the story.


It could be as simple as someone making up the piper to explain the disappearance, and then being asked why it would kidnap all the children.

"See, this dude kidnapped all the children with magic"
"Why would he do that?"
"To take revenge on the town"
"For what?"
"Non-payment for services rendered."

After that you just need some more people passing the story on with some of their own flourishes, and see which version survives.
 
g.fro
2020-09-04 10:30:01 AM  

wingedkat: winedrinkingman: haknudsen: or it was a reference to the Children's Crusade.

Wrong year.  There were still pagan communities in central Europe at the time.  Article suggests two plausible theories.  One was that it was actaully a group of young couples that left to go settle in Eastern Europe, or it was ai group of pagan children that went up to the hills for a bonfire celebration, but got massacred by Christian's.  It would have been the right time of year for that kind of celebration, it was exactly the kind if thing the Christian's were doing to the few remaining pagan worshipers at the time, and it is something the town would have memorialized without getting too specific less the Christian's murder them for calling out Christian's for being murderers.

Makes me wonder how the rats became part of the story.


Rats lead to plague, plague leads to dead children.

The town hired the piper to get rid of the rats, thus saving their children from plague. Then they stiff him. So he takes their children. Thus, the same result as if he never got rid of the rats.
 
AintNoAmoeba [TotalFark]
2020-09-04 11:07:07 AM  
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fluffy_pope
2020-09-04 11:07:41 AM  

g.fro: wingedkat: winedrinkingman: haknudsen: or it was a reference to the Children's Crusade.

Wrong year.  There were still pagan communities in central Europe at the time.  Article suggests two plausible theories.  One was that it was actaully a group of young couples that left to go settle in Eastern Europe, or it was ai group of pagan children that went up to the hills for a bonfire celebration, but got massacred by Christian's.  It would have been the right time of year for that kind of celebration, it was exactly the kind if thing the Christian's were doing to the few remaining pagan worshipers at the time, and it is something the town would have memorialized without getting too specific less the Christian's murder them for calling out Christian's for being murderers.

Makes me wonder how the rats became part of the story.

Rats lead to plague, plague leads to dead children.

The town hired the piper to get rid of the rats, thus saving their children from plague. Then they stiff him. So he takes their children. Thus, the same result as if he never got rid of the rats.


maybe the kids missed the rats and got lost looking for them.
occam's razor.

/has seen Bigfoot *twice*
 
Do you know the way to Mordor
2020-09-04 11:11:12 AM  
RIP Harry Hamlin

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
AgentKGB [TotalFark]
2020-09-04 11:39:29 AM  
shropshirestar.comView Full Size


Yes, I know that's Robin Hood. Any excuse to post some panto.

/"This is Puss And Boots!"
/"Oh no it isn't!"
//"Oh yes it is!"
 
AgentKGB [TotalFark]
2020-09-04 11:40:23 AM  

AgentKGB: Yes, I know that's Robin Hood Peter Pan.


I need more coffee.
 
Kalyco Jack [TotalFark]
2020-09-04 11:57:34 AM  
What made him "pied?" Did he eat a lot of pies or... was that discussed in the article and I just got bored after the first paragraph?
 
DerAppie
2020-09-04 12:02:09 PM  

Kalyco Jack: What made him "pied?" Did he eat a lot of pies or... was that discussed in the article and I just got bored after the first paragraph?


Same origin as "piebald". He had different coloured garments to the degree it was worth mentioning.
 
g.fro
2020-09-04 12:06:29 PM  

DerAppie: Kalyco Jack: What made him "pied?" Did he eat a lot of pies or... was that discussed in the article and I just got bored after the first paragraph?

Same origin as "piebald". He had different coloured garments to the degree it was worth mentioning.


I thought it was because he was "paid". Or in this case, not.
 
Fursecution [BareFark]
2020-09-04 1:01:24 PM  
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/"Mr. B, you're hot!"
 
jimmydageek
2020-09-04 1:28:58 PM  
I'm not comfortable talking about gender fluids
 
whitroth
2020-09-04 2:59:47 PM  
1284? Oh? and given whenever this was inscribed, it couldn't possibly have been 1212, and the children went off on the Children's Crusade?
 
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