# Rats.....musicians!



## Head_case

Vindicated at last!

The Pied Piper of Hamelin was not playing a baroque traverso flauto!

It's those early clarinet and cornamuse players who give us a bad rep with rats:










http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20716625



> 2012 marks 200th anniversary of Grimm Brothers' version of German legend (Rattenfänger von Hameln) - other versions include poem by Robert Browning
> Story tells how mysterious piper agrees to rid Hamelin of rats - when city withholds payment, he uses pipe to charm the city's children away
> Story believed to originate with medieval legend of children's disappearance from town - rats were introduced into story in mid-16th Century


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## mamascarlatti

Goodness I thought you were talking about this:


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## Head_case

Errr.....yours is more terrifying


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## mamascarlatti

Head_case said:


> Errr.....yours is more terrifying


Oh, those are the CUTE rats. Wait till you see the others!


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## SiegendesLicht

mamascarlatti said:


> Goodness I thought you were talking about this:


These rats are epic, it looks like they will forever remain in the collective memory of Wagner fans


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## PetrB

I don't really care what instrument that piper was playing! For all we know, we've been given a 'bowdlerized' version and the instrument was a Zamr!

In the story, the Piper was promised a fee if he rid the town of the Vermin. After successfully completing the job, the Burghers reneged the agreement. That musician was just extracting, after a well-executed gig, his fee as promised; I hope he sold the children (to good homes, of course!) and got his fee 

uh, as in, "Time to pay the piper."


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## Head_case

PetrB said:


> I don't really care what that piper was playing!
> 
> In the story, the Piper was promised a fee if he rid the town of the Vermin. After successfully completing the job, the Burghers reneged the agreement. That musician was just extracting, after a well-executed gig, his fee as promised; I hope he sold the children (to good homes, of course!) and got his fee
> 
> uh, as in, "Time to pay the piper."


Sure..that's all fine and well...

But what do you think he fed the children on?



We never hear that bit in childrens' fairy tales.


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