"Band on the run" - sort of -

If, like I assume to be true, you are unfamiliar with the fable of The Pied Piper, welcome to today's episode of; "what the hell is he on about now?" Okay then, the story begins back in 1284, allegedly in the town of Hamelin, Lower Saxony, Germany.

Hamelin, what a "nice" place to live, except . . .

Some folk say the place was being overrun by an infestation of that dreaded vermin: rats! And in response to an ad placed on Craig's List (alright, that part - the reference to Craig's List - isn't true) anyway, this piper guy, dressed in a coat of many coloured, bright cloth, (sounds like Donny Osmond to me) one day just appeared outside the town hall.

This 'fancy-dan' guy promised the good people of Hamelin he'd rid them of their rat problem in return for a decent cash renumeration, to this proposal the townspeople all looked at each other, shuffled their feet, cleared their throats and nodded in agreement, "yeah, alright, that's cool, consider it a deal".

So, true to his word, the man in the "technicolor dream coat" got rid of the rats. How? Simples, he led them away with his intoxicating and enchanting music. Ah the soothing effects of a good jazz man!

So afterwards, what renumeration did he receive for his gig? Well, in actuality, the "good people" of Hamelin, in heartfelt appreciation for this salvation, well they reneged on their promise. "You get nothing" they informed him, in between the laughter at his stunned face

Feeling more than a bit "P.O'ed" the 'angry' piper walked away from the town hall, loudly and in no uncertain terms, quietly vowing revenge. It's been said, later on the 26th of June the piper returned - how they knew the exact date I put down to "poetic license" - anyway, early that morning, your boy the "Piper" paraded thru the village softly playing a most melodic tune, entrancing and indeed mesmering the naive children of Hamelin, leading them away from the village, never to be seen, heard from or in touch with their parents again.

In fact, by the way, this was pretty much the same thing, he had done with the village rats: funny that

However, no matter how thorough, and thorough is his calling card, his infanticidal mission was, there happened to be three children left behind. One of these children, reportedly, was lame and I guess just could not keep up with the parade. It's been said another was deaf and could not hear the music, so had no idea what the fuss was about, while the third one was blind (little Stevie Wonder) and could not see where he was going.

Now then, placing "facts" into the tale, the earliest known record of this story is from the town of Hamelin itself depicted in a stained glass window created for the town Church, which dates to around 1300 AD. This particular church was destroyed in 1660, however several written accounts of the tale have survived.

The oldest comes from the Lueneburg manuscript (c 1440 – 50), which stated: “In the year of 1284, on the day of Saints John and Paul on June 26, by a piper, clothed in many kinds of colours, 130 children born in Hamelin were seduced, and lost at the place of execution near the koppen.”

Today, the street where the children were last seen is called Bungelosenstrasse (street without drums), as no one is allowed to play music or dance there.

(How am I doing so far? You bored yet)

Moving on . . . There have been several theories trying to explain what really happened to the children of Hamelin floated thru the years, like one that suggests the children died of natural causes, and that the "Pied Piper" was the personification of Death.

(Have a bit of bother trying to fit the multi-coloured coat in with this one, but hey)

Anywhoo, by associating the rats with the Black Death, it has been suggested that the children were victims of the plague. Yet, the Black Death was most severe in Europe between 1348 and 1350, more than half a century after the events in Hamelin.

Another theory suggests that the children were actually sent away by their parents, due to the extreme poverty of the time. Another theory speculates the children were participants of a doomed ‘Children’s Crusade’, and might have ended up in modern day Romania, or that the departure of Hamelin's children is tied to the Ostsiedlung, a program in which a number of Germans left their homes to colonise Eastern Europe.

Now then, (and lastly I hasten to add) over the years, after the introduction of "Political Correctness" to polite society and the rewriting of certain "fairy tales" it's been whispered that the Pied Piper was in reality a paedophile who crept into the town of Hamelin - not cordially invited - to abduct children during their sleep.

(Trying real hard not to refer to him - here - as Michael)

And that concludes our "Idiocy" for today. In case you're still here,

She lost the troubling 4 pounds plus 3 more, so all is well on that front (THANK GOD) the cast on my wrist comes off this afternoon, Darryl-Elizabeth, properly chastised, didn't apologise for her state of dress yesterday (young'uns, what're you gonna do with 'em) and today's photo rose is one of the dozen being gifted to the manager of Trader Joes

Enjoy your day