The Legend of the Lost Children of Hamelin

July 13, 1376 is a day that spawned an eerie legend. A strange, colorfully dressed young man strolls into Hamelin Town in Brunswick; so the story goes in The Pied Piper. The town is infested with rats, vexing the entire populace. The Pied Piper from whence he came, no one knows. From whence he went is his fame.

The mystique of the Pied Piper legend has many interpretations. The young man is described as being clean shaven, tall with sharp blue-eyes, light loose hair and swarthy complexion. This description set him apart from the residents of Hamelin, a German town.

Peculiarly, many Germans in this particular region are also tall, blue-eyed, have light hair and swarthy complexions.

Still, his wild red and yellow, loose fitting clothing and checked scarf of matching colors, set him apart from the elegant style of the day for men in 1376. He described himself as "Poor piper as I am," while Hamelin's council freely admitted to buying gowns lined with "ermine."

The poor piper was a seasoned traveler by his own admission, having been to "Tartary" where he, one month earlier, freed the "Cham" of a huge swarm of gnats and "eased in Asia, the Nizam of a swam of vampire bats," for which he was generously paid.

His mission in Hamelin was merely to rid the town of rats. The price he asked of the Hamelin Mayor and Council for this job was a thousand guilders. Feigning astonishment at the low cost to rid the town of their rat hordes, the Mayor Council exclaimed in unison, "Fifty thousand!"

When asked how he would accomplish this task, he explained he had a "secret charm" he used only on "creatures that do people harm,"...all creatures under the sun he claimed who creep, swim, fly or run."

The charm was in his piping.

With just a few notes from his pipe, rats followed him out into the streets of Hamelin by the thousands and into the rolling River Weser.

When it was time for the Mayor and Council to pay, the piper asked for his thousand guilders. The rats were gone and the politicians felt this strange looking young man should take only fifty.

The Piper grew impatient. He had another task in Baghdad to remove nests of scorpions from the Caliph's kitchen by dinnertime. The foolish men insisted they would pay only fifty, knowing the rats were done in by the River Weser.

Curiously, the young man did not explain how he'd travel the distance from Hamelin Baghdad in so short a matter of hours. Yet, all the clues to his powers were already revealed to a largely ignorant and self-serving bunch of politicians.

The Piper seeing no conveyance of payment, stepped into the street once again. He blew several notes on his pipe. This time children came running, romping and skipping at the young man's back. Their parents stood immobilized and in horror, as the Piper led them to High Street beside the River Weser!

Then, suddenly the Piper turned to Koppelberg Hill at the foot of a mountainside.

The children followed, until a large portal opened wide. All went in, except one little lame boy who could not keep up. The portal closed behind him.

Years later, a strange tribe in Transylvania was secretly whispered about by the people of Hamelin. The tribe's wild, outlandish ways and colorful dress caused others who encountered them to fear a society of powerful, unorthodox people. Suspicions rose these were the children stolen away by the Piper.

Many Roma people have always believed in a reclusive Gypsy King who has unusual powers. Is he the legendary Pied Piper? In the vernacular of the language of the day, the word "Pied" defined as "many colors." Gypsies have often been accused of wearing clothing and jewelry in riots of colors, ignoring the customary styles and hues of the day.

Gypsy people also possess a highly attuned sense of mental telepathy, often mistaken for "telling fortunes." This unusual talent sends all who sense it into spasms of fear.

In the 16th century, fear of the Roma people was such that the Ottomans regularly hunted them in eastern European countries and returned them to the caliphs of the Ottoman Empire as slaves. Yet, many managed to escape, hiding from their hunters by never settling for long in one place.

Near the end of the 16th century, the legend of a Gypsy King was whispered among their enemies and townspeople who feared these tribes of wanderers.

Gypsies of the 16th century held fast to their traditions, often at the risk of offending the virulent rise of Christianity in Europe. They learned to live in the short term, never knowing when they would have to pull up stakes and move on again. They traveled in caravans in gaily painted, hand-carved wagons, living basically from the sustenance of the land. Forests and mountains provided food, shelter and safe havens from attacks by Ottomans.

In one Gypsy legend, to protect their Gypsy King, they held fast to the secret of his location, often to their doom. There's even a whispered legend of a tribe of Gypsies hunted by Ottomans and aided by "men in white robes and iron masks," believed to be Knights Templars, who led the Gypsy caravan to safety of a remote camp in the Carpathian mountains.

These are legends that abounded in the earliest history of Gypsies. Around a central camp fire, the elders of the tribe would tell the stories handed down to them from one generation to the next. Still, the legend of a Gypsy King of great power continued.

Every Gypsy tribe had its sage---a wise man or woman who spoke little and performed many tasks that required unusual wisdom and skill. Does this describe the Pied Piper? The young clean-shaven man who could, with a few musical notes, enchant and "secret charm?"

Did the Pied Piper not provide the Mayor and Council with a direct warning from the outset about his "secret charm" he used only on "creatures that do people harm,"...all creatures under the sun he claimed who creep, swim, fly or run."

Perhaps, the Pied Piper's warning about "creatures that do people harm" included covetous, deceitful politicians of Hamelin?

Why did the Mayor and Council agree at the outset that the Pied Piper did, in fact, has a "secret" charm that was wholly effective and sufficient to do the job he promised to do. Then, in refusing to pay him, they disbelieved in his "secret charm?"

This is similar to the belief that Gypsies can read the future to those willing to pay for their services. Many misunderstand that the word "future" to Gypsies doesn't mean "seeing it.

It simply means second sight based on encompassing hindsight and life experience, an empowering facet of intellect all humans possess---if they take the time and trouble to use their experience for future reference. Most humans dismiss their personal experience. Gypsies build upon it.

Gypsies have an enormous ability and unusual depth of concentration easily misunderstood by superficial intellects. Gypsies "read" cards, tea leaves, crystal balls and even the flames in a tribal camp fire.

To Gypsies, "read" translates as "meditation." This is not limited to Gypsy tribes. It's done throughout the world by those who inherit, as Gypsies have, an ancient culture limited only by the environment in which they live.

The key element in "reading" or "meditating" is to focus attention to such a degree as to exclude all peripheral distractions...creating a blank mind. In reality, such depth of focus silences the conscious mind and releases the power of the subconscious mind, often imprisoned within the superficial intellect.

For some human beings, silencing the conscious mind is all too fearsome. For ancient cultures with deeply embedded wisdom and regular intellectual exercise of their subconscious minds, it is the key to their behaviors.

Little wonder than, that Gypsies have no fear of being colorful, different or willing to use their innate sense of wisdom for the good of others. Aren't these the lost children of Hamelin who skipped, danced and followed the Pied Piper into the mountain?

The children of Hamelin were fearless, as they followed behind the charming, young man to their new home in Transylvania.

Did he keep his promise to the Caliph in Baghdad to rid the kitchens of scorpions? The magic of legends lie with the ability to accept in blind faith, that which to some, has no explanation or rationale.

Why Transylvania? Because traveling out of Hamelin town through a cave in the mountain was likely a protection for the children. The Bavarian Alps are also part of the mountain range that incorporates the Northern Limestone Alps of the Ice Age, across the European Continent into the Austro-Hungarian mountain range.

Transylvania in the 13th century was part of the Kingdom of Hungary historically. For many centuries, control over this region passed back and forth between the Ottoman and Habsburg Empires. Not a very stable environment and one that encouraged constant cultural transitions between Middle Eastern and typical Mohac and Hungarian cultures---the perfect setting to deposit the lost children of Hamelin.

The lifeblood of Gypsy tribes was and remains a strong, impervious kinship with each other. Little wonder the generational crossover of wisdom is so easily transferred, and, as easily, mistaken for "seers who tell fortunes." Such intimate symbiosis with life and living off the land, while traveling from place to place would naturally endow tribes with unusual familiarity and knowledge beyond superficial levels others possess.

Though the legend of the Lost Children of Hamelin has never been proven, what is known about Roma people is that they originated from ancient India. Their exotic features compliment their extraordinary eyes that seem to read thoughts.

Perhaps, their "gift" of second sight was linked to the "secret charm" of which the Pied Piper spoke?