Did You Know? According to legend, in 1284, while the town of Hamelin, Germany was suffering from a rat infestation, a man dressed in pied (multicolored) clothing appeared, claiming to be a rat-catcher. He promised the townsmen a solution for their problem with the rats. The townsmen in turn promised to pay him for the removal of the rats. The man accepted, and played a musical pipe to lure the rats with a song into the Weser River, where all but one drowned. Despite his success, the people reneged on their promise and refused to pay the rat-catcher the full amount of money. The man left the town angrily, but vowed to return some time later, seeking revenge. On St. John and Paul’s Day (June 26) while the inhabitants were in church, he played his pipe yet again, dressed in green, like a hunter, this time attracting the children of Hamelin. One hundred and thirty boys and girls followed him out of the town, where they were lured into a cave and never seen again. The moral of the story: Always pay your debts. Or never enrage the exterminator. Or use the cats of Ulthar instead. Something like that. LEARN MORE.
