Into the street the Piper stept,
Smiling first a little smile,
As if he knew what magic slept
In his quiet pipe the while;
Then, like a musical adept,
To blow the pipe his lips he wrinkled,
And green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled,
Like a candle-flame where salt is sprinkled;
And ere three shrill notes the pipe uttered,
You heard as if an army muttered;
And the muttering grew to a grumbling;
And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling;
And out of the houses the rats came tumbling.

The history of the story
There seems little doubt that an extraordinary event involving a procession of some 130 children did take place in the town on Hamelin, Germany, in the 13th or 14th century, and that a musician was involved. The street in Hamelin along which the procession traveled was later named Bungelose Strasse (Drumless Street), because no drumming or dancing was subsequently allowed there. However to date, no clear explanation has emerged for this tragic and mysterious event, but there are many, many theories. In 1816 a version of the tale was committed to paper by the Brothers Grimm, well known for their macabre fairy tales, this story then inspired a number of poems, songs and musical pieces. But it was Robert Browning who made the tale famous in the English-speaking world, when he translated the various mythical elements into a children’s poem of world-renown. Here follows an excerpt from Browning’s poem, The Pied Piper of Hamelin.

The story in brief
In 1824, the town of Hamelin is suffering from terrible plague of rats. The town council tries everything to get rid of them – without success. At last, the Mayor promises 1000 florins to the one who can put an end to the plague. A stranger dressed in bright red and yellow clothes shows up and says he can rid Hamelin of the rats. At night, the stranger starts to play a soft tune on a flute, luring all the rats out of the houses and barns towards the river Weser, where they drown. The Mayor refuses to pay the piper saying, ’Playing a tune of n a flute is not worth 1000 florins. Get out of Hamlin!’ But the piper returns on a Sunday morning, when all the grown-ups are at church. Again he starts to play a tune on his flute. This time, all the children follow him, as he walks out of the gate to the mountains. Suddenly a cave opens in the mountain. The piper walks into the mountain, still followed by the children, and the cave closes again. The children were never seen again in Hamelin.

Our version of the story
We are going to take our inspiration from the above tale/real-life mystery and devise a dark drama to move and inspire our audience. We will combine our research into the story itself with an investigation into modern day accounts of child-trafficking, an issue that involves the disappearance of children and so has close links with the tragic piper myth.
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