SUMMARY OF THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN

 


Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings and challenging vocabulary and syntax.

The speaker introduces the lovely river town of Hamelin in Brunswick and tells of its serious vermin problem 500 years before. Rats had overrun the city, to the point that the public demanded of the Mayor and "our Corporation" that the rats be destroyed or else the people would remove them from power.

The Mayor and Corporation have a stressful meeting, but can discover no viable option until "the strangest figure" arrives. He is extremely gangly, garbed in bizarrely colored clothing, and old-fashioned. They also notice he has a flute hanging around his neck, which he continues to finger while they talk. He explains that he has heard of their problem and has a "secret charm" that leads creatures to follow him when he wants. He says he uses his talent "on creatures that do people harm" and asks for one thousand gilders if he can rid the town of rats. They quickly up his offer to 50,000 gilders.

The piper heads outside and begins to play his flute. Almost immediately, the rats come out from everywhere and follow him as he plays and dances through the streets, until he finally gets to the river and leads them all to their deaths by drowning. Only one rat escapes, and the speaker tells how that rat swam to family and told the story of the Piper for the rest of his days.

Hamelin is overjoyed and immediately sets to repairing itself, but the Piper interrupts their merriment to request his 1,000 gilders. The Mayor and Corporation, suddenly wondering whether they ought to pay a vagabond such money, apologize patronizingly and then offer him only 50 gilders. Angry, the Piper makes a veiled threat, but the Mayor blows him off.

The Piper heads out into the street and again begins to play his flute. However, this time it is not rats, but the children of the town who begin to follow him. The adults find themselves unable to move as they watch the children dancing along behind the Piper as he heads out of town. Finally, the adults are able to move and decide to follow at a distance, assuming he will sooner or later have to stop playing. But when the Piper reaches a nearby mountain, a magic portal opens and all the children disappear with him into it. The speaker then tells of one boy, whose lame foot prohibited him from keeping up and who was thus left behind. He remains sad and distraught the rest of his days for not having glimpsed whatever promise lay in the Piper's song.

Hamelin, having suffered a great tragedy in losing all its children, tried to send word to the Piper that they would pay his fee, but to no avail. They made laws to commemorate the memories of the children and have rebuilt since then. The speaker adds a note that there is a "tribe of alien people" in Transylvania whose legends tell how their forbearers once rose "out of some subterranean prison," though nobody in the tribe understands the meaning of the legend.

The final short stanza is addressed to "Willy," and the speaker insists upon the importance of keeping promises.

FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING REFER TO THIS VIDEO LINK





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