The Rats Are Back in Hamelin
Thursday November 20, 2008
According to news reports the town of Hamelin in northern Germany is overrun with rats. Officials say the infestation is the result of a local garbage dump serving as a "refuge" for the booming rodent population.
According to legend, Hamelin experienced a similar problem in the year 1284, prompting city fathers to hire a "pied piper" to lure the rats out of town with his magical flute. When the time came to pay the piper, however, the townspeople reneged, for which he took revenge by herding a hundred or so of their children into a faraway mountain cave. They were never seen or heard from again.
Memo to the current Mayor of Hamelin: hire an exterminator. And pay him when he's done.
Read more:
• Rats Return to Pied Piper Town
• Legend of the Pied Piper
• The Children of Hamelin (Brothers Grimm)
According to legend, Hamelin experienced a similar problem in the year 1284, prompting city fathers to hire a "pied piper" to lure the rats out of town with his magical flute. When the time came to pay the piper, however, the townspeople reneged, for which he took revenge by herding a hundred or so of their children into a faraway mountain cave. They were never seen or heard from again.
Memo to the current Mayor of Hamelin: hire an exterminator. And pay him when he's done.
Read more:
• Rats Return to Pied Piper Town
• Legend of the Pied Piper
• The Children of Hamelin (Brothers Grimm)
Comments
Better yet, send the rats to china where they eat them.
Or you could skin them and make them into ratbags.
David,
Did you know that if you travel to Hamelin, Germany you are able to purchase rat-shaped bread and chocolate rats on sticks?
Nice post!
Meg
Wait — so are there rats in Hamelin again or not? I clicked thinking there was some sort of urban legend angle, not a fairy tale…
Yeah Karen, enough with the jokes (rather unfunny ones I might add), are there rats there or not, Walt? If so, I def have to skip THAT town on my trip!