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Article: Pay the piper by visiting enchanting Hameln.
- Article from:
- The Boston Herald
- Article date:
- January 4, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Boston Herald. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Welcome to the German river city with the ratty reputation. Real rats - a swarming plague of brown and gray rodents. They're repugnant, but along comes a stranger who tootles a magic pipe and eliminates the infestation.
So many of us have heard about the little city of Hameln - or Hamelin, for those who learned the anglicized place name when told the fairy tale about the Pied Piper.
One of the most famous of many old folkloric Germanic legends, it harks back to 1284. For an agreed-upon fee, the itinerant musician promises to solve Hameln's rat problem. He keeps his word, for the tune he plays lures the critters to a mass drowning in the Weser River.
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