Pied Piper of Hamelin
Preserved but no longer current.
The legend is that the town of Hamelin (Westphalia) was infested with rats in 1284, that a mysterious Piper, clad in a parti-coloured suit, appeared in the town and offered to rid it of the vermin for a certain sum, that the townspeople accepted the offer, the Pied Piper fulfilled his contract, and that then the payment was withheld. On the follow- ing St. John's Day he reappeared, and again played his pipe.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Pied Piper of Hamelin” mean?
The legend is that the town of Hamelin (Westphalia) was infested with rats in 1284, that a mysterious Piper, clad in a parti-coloured suit, appeared in the town and offered to rid it of the vermin for a certain sum, that the townspeople accepted the offer, the Pied Piper fulfilled his contract, and that then the payment was withheld. On the follow- ing St. John's Day he reappeared, and again played his pipe.
Is “Pied Piper of Hamelin” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.