Pied Piper

today while i was wasting a good part of my morning researching the lives of feral children i came across a reference to the Pied Piper. i realized though i had heard the phrase "pay the piper" serveral times, i didn't actually know the story.

now i love children's stories. i took a children's literature course in college (that time i was in college) and when i was in a creative writing course lots of peer reviews would come back as "sounds like a fairytale". still not sure how that is a bad thing dearest participants of the most uncomfortable course i ever took. obviously creative writing is not for everyone.

this, well, it's not really a children's story but it involves children.


it's Germany, it's the 13th century and the town of Hamelin has a rat problem. a man came to the town and said he could, for a price, lure the rats into the river with his lute where they would drown. when the town refused to pay him for services rendered, the piper took revenge by luring all the children away/into the river/up a mountain/into a cave where he had his "wicked way" with them.

terrifying terrifying terrifying.
fascinating.

antiquated stories of murder and crime always seem more sisnister. maybe it's because they hint at an evil has always been around and always will be around even if you ban your kids from playing video games and watching the simpsons. but i do know for a fact that watching seinfeld can poison children and turn them into the worst kind of snarky when they are in college.