the pied piper of hamelin kate greenaway

Added speculation on the ‘migration theory’ is based on the idea that by the thirteenth century, the area had too many people resulting in the oldest son owning all the land and power (‘majorat’), leaving the rest as serfs. Some of the scenarios that have been suggested as fitting this theory include that the children drowned in the river Weser, were killed in a landslide, or contracted some disease during an epidemic. Analogous themes which are associated with this theory include the ‘Dance of Death’, Totentanz or Danse Macabre, a common medieval trope. The ‘natural causes’ theory is perhaps the most prevalent explanation for the children’s disappearance in the story. The current theory, generally accepted by scholars and historians, ties the departure of Hamelin’s children to the Ostsiedlung, in which a number of Germans from the Holy Roman Empire left their homes to colonize Eastern Europe. Other theories liken him to figures like Nicholas of Cologne, who is said to have lured away a great number of children on a disastrous Children’s Crusade (a disastrous Crusade by European Christians to expel Muslims from the Holy Land said to have taken place in 1212). Theories have been proposed suggesting that the Pied Piper is a symbol of the children’s death by plague or catastrophe.

In any case, the rats were first added to the story in a version from 1559, and are absent from earlier accounts. Origins of Fairy Tales from Around the WorldĪlthough research has been conducted for centuries, no explanation for the historical event is agreed upon.

The pied piper of hamelin kate greenaway