Germany: Hamelin

Hamelin (or Hameln, in German) is a small medieval town situated on the north of Germany, in the state of Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), very famous for the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin (in German, Der Rattenfänger von Hameln).

According to the legend, the Hamelin Piper was called to catch the rats that were infesting the town around 1282. In exchange to the rats’ heads, it was promised a good payment and the Piper accept the offer.  He took is Pipe and – through his music – he hypnotized the rats and took them away, outside of the city walls, and drowned them in the Weser River. However, as he didn’t bring the rats’ heads as a proof of the service the payment was denied. The man left Hamelin but came back a few weeks later to play his songs again but this time – as a revenge – he hypnotized the children a took them very far away from there. The city was then sad, without rats but also without children.

As any other medieval legend, the Pied Piper of Hamelin is also supposed to tell stories or lessons to learn on that time, like the Children's Crusade, where a man would take hundreds of children to the south of Italy aiming to free the Holly Land (Jerusalem) and ended up in the death of several and the selling them to slavery (they would have been sold as slaves when they arrived at Alexandria.

Nowadays, Hamelin still keeps its beautiful medieval architecture and attracts many tourists, especially on Summer Sundays when the Pied Piper of Hamelin is staged with young actors playing the rats and the children, and a man as the piper. It’s a cute town, I haven’t seen any rats but sure have seen many kids!