the Pied Piper of Hamelin

The German legend of Hameln (Hamelin in Spanish), in which a piper, swindled by not receiving his payment for ridding the city of rats, returns to demand a much crueler payment, kidnapping 130 children from the city, never to be seen again.

In 1284, a mysterious man appeared in Hamelin. He wore a bright, multicolored robe, so he was called the Pied Piper of Hamelin. He claimed to be a rat exterminator and promised that, for a certain sum, he would rid the town of all mice and rats. The citizens agreed, promising him a price. The exterminator then took a small flute from his pocket and began to play it. Immediately, rats and mice poured out of every house and gathered around him. When he believed he had exterminated them all, he led them to the Weser River, where he rolled up his sleeves and waded into the water. The animals followed him, fell in, and drowned. Now that the citizens were free of the plague, they regretted having promised so much money and, with all sorts of excuses, refused to pay him. Finally, he left, bitter and furious. He returned on June 26, the feast day of St. John and St. Paul, very early in the morning, at seven o'clock (others say it was at noon), dressed as a hunter, with a terrible expression and a strange red hat. He played his flute in the streets, but this time it wasn't rats or mice that came to him, but children: a great crowd of boys and girls from the age of four. Among them was the mayor's eldest daughter. The crowd followed him, and he led them to a mountain, where he disappeared with them. Illustration by Kate Greenway. Published in The Piper of Hamlin by Robert Browning, 1888. Fredrick Warne and Co. Musical Instruments
In less than an hour, messengers were sent out everywhere, by water and by land, asking if anyone had seen the children.

Long ago, there was a beautiful village
called Hamelin, surrounded by mountains and meadows,
Bathed by a lovely stream, a village
truly beautiful and peaceful, in which its
The inhabitants lived happily. But one day something happened.
very strange in the town of Hamelin, all the
The streets were invaded by thousands of mice that
They roamed everywhere, destroying everything.
the grain that was in the granaries and with all the
food of its inhabitants.
Nobody could understand the reason for the
invasion and, no matter how hard they tried to drive the
mice, it seemed that the only thing they managed to do was
It was that more and more mice would come.
Given the seriousness of the situation, the rulers
of the city, who saw their wealth threatened by the
due to the mice's voracious appetite, they summoned the Council and
They said:

• We will give one hundred gold coins to whoever frees us
  1 of the mice.
  Soon a young flautist appeared whom no one
  had seen them before and said to them:
  The reward will be mine. There will be no more tonight.
  not a single mouse in Hamelin.
  The young man picked up his flute and began to wander through the
  streets of Hamelin playing a beautiful
  A melody that seemed to enchant the mice. Little by little
  Soon, all the mice began to come out of their
  hiding places and follow him while the piper
  He continued playing his flute tirelessly.
  Walking and walking, the piper moved away from the
  city ​​until reaching a river, where all the
  Mice climbed onto a raft that was lost in the
  distance.
  The people of Hamelin, seeing the streets of Hamelin free
  The mice breathed a sigh of relief. They were finally there!
  They were calm and could return to their businesses!
  They were so happy that they threw a party
  forgetting that it had been the young flautist who
  He had managed to keep the mice away.
  The next morning, the young man returned to Hamelin to
  to receive the reward they had promised to
  who would rid them of the mice.
  But the rulers, who were very greedy and
  2 only thought about their own interests

In 1284, the town of Hamelin was infested with rats. One day, a stranger appeared and offered his services to the townspeople. In exchange for a reward, he would rid them of all the rats, a promise the villagers readily agreed to. Then the unknown piper began to play his flute, and all the rats emerged from their burrows and holes and began to walk toward the sound of the music. Once all the rats were gathered around the piper, he began to walk, and all the rats followed him to the sound of the music. The piper headed toward the Weser River, and the rats, following him, drowned.

Having completed his mission, the man returned to the village to claim his reward, but the villagers refused to pay him. The rat catcher, furious, left the village only to return shortly afterward, on June 26 (the feast of Saints John and Paul), seeking revenge.

While the townspeople were gathered in the church, the man again played his strange flute music. This time, all the children of the town followed him to the rhythm of the music, and leaving the town, he led them to a cave. They were never seen again. According to some versions, some of the children were left behind: a lame boy who couldn't keep up because he couldn't walk properly (Berlanga Gómez, 2014), a deaf boy who only followed out of curiosity, and a blind boy who couldn't see where they were being led and strayed. They later told their parents what had happened, but they couldn't save the children, and they remained lost forever. Many years ago, there was a very beautiful town called Hamelin, where one morning something very strange happened… When the inhabitants left their houses, they found the streets teeming with rats that gnawed everything in sight.

No matter how many mousetraps the inhabitants set, they couldn't get rid of them; on the contrary, they seemed to increase! And that's because of the presence of