Why 130 Children Vanished from Medieval Hamelin - Fairy Tale #DarkFolklore #Storytelling - video Dailymotion

Maybooster - Moral & Fairy Tales

A promise made must be a promise kept. This timeless lesson is emphasized through several key themes:   Honoring Agreements: The primary lesson is the absolute importance of keeping one’s word. The townspeople’s failure to pay the Ratcatcher as agreed directly triggered the tragic loss of their children.  The Consequences of Greed: The story warns that prioritizing short-term financial gain—like the Mayor refusing to pay the agreed fee once the rats were gone—can lead to an immeasurable long-term loss.  Integrity Over Deceit: It teaches that honesty and fairness are essential values. Dishonesty or trying to cheat someone out of their rightful compensation can result in severe and often unforeseen retribution.  "Paying the Piper": This story is the origin of the common idiom "pay the piper," which means to face the inevitable consequences of one's own actions or to pay for a service rendered.   In modern contexts, these morals are often used in business leadership to emphasize trust, accountability, and the long-term impact of ethical decision-making.  🔔 Subscribe for Daily Legends  #TheRatcatcher #PiedPiper #DarkFolklore #TrueCrimeHistory #Storytelling #BehindStories #BrothersGrimm #2026 #UnsolvedMysteries

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00:00A very long time ago the town of Hamel in Germany was invaded by bands of rats, the

00:09like of which had never been seen before nor will ever be again. They were great black

00:14creatures that ran boldly in broad daylight through the streets and swarmed so, all over

00:20the houses, that people at last could not put their hand or foot down anywhere without

00:25touching one. When dressing in the morning they found them in their breeches and petticoats,

00:31in their pockets, and in their boots. And when they wanted a morsel to eat, the voracious

00:36horde had swept away everything from cellar to garret. The night was even worse. As soon

00:42as the lights were out, these untiring nibblers set to work. And everywhere, in the ceilings,

00:48in the floors, in the cupboards, at the doors, there was a chase and a rummage, and so furious

00:55a noise of gimlets, pincers, and saws, that a deaf man could not have rested for one hour

01:01together. Neither cats, nor dogs, nor poison, nor traps, nor prayers, nor candles burnt to

01:11all the saints. Nothing would do anything. One Friday, there arrived in the town a man

01:18with a queer face, who played the bagpipes and sang this refrain,

01:21Who lives shall see, this is he, the rat catcher. He stopped on the great marketplace before

01:28the town hall, turned his back on the church, and went on with his music, singing, Who lives

01:34shall see, this is he, the rat catcher. The town council had just assembled to consider

01:40once more this plague of Egypt, from which no one could save the town. The stranger sent word

01:46to the counselors, that if they would make it worth his while, he would rid them of all

01:51their rats before night, down to the very last. Then he is a sorcerer, cried the citizens

01:58with one voice. We must beware of him. The town councilor, who was considered clever, reassured

02:05them. Sorcerer or no, if this bagpiper speaks the truth, it was he who sent us this horrible

02:12vermin that he wants to rid us of today for money. Well, we must learn to catch the devil

02:17in his own snares. You leave it to me. Leave it to the town councilor, said the citizens

02:23one to another. And the stranger was brought before them. Before night, I shall have dispatched

02:29all the rats in Hamel, if you will but pay me a gross a head.

02:34A gross a head, but that will come to millions of florins. The town councilor simply shrugged

02:39his shoulders and said to the stranger, A bargain, to work. The rats will be paid one

02:45gross a head as you ask. The bagpiper announced that he would operate

02:49that very evening when the moon rose. He added that the inhabitants should at that hour leave

02:54the streets free, and content themselves with looking out of their windows at what was passing,

02:59and that it would be a pleasant spectacle. When the people of Hamel heard of the bargain,

03:04they too exclaimed, A grow a head, but this will cost us a deal of money.

03:10Leave it to the town councilor, said the town council with a malicious air.

03:15And the good people of Hamel repeated with their councillors, Leave it to the town councilor.

03:21Towards nine at night, the bagpiper reappeared on the marketplace. He turned, as at first,

03:26his back to the church. And the moment the moon rose on the horizon, the bagpipes resounded.

03:33It was first a slow, caressing sound, then more and more lively and urgent, and so sonorous and

03:39piercing that it penetrated as far as the farthest alleys and retreats of the town.

03:45Soon from the bottom of the cellars, the top of the garrets, from under all the furniture,

03:51from all the nooks and corners of the houses, out come the rats. Search for the door,

03:56fling themselves into the street, and trip, trip, trip, begin to run in file towards the

04:02front of the town hall, so squeezed together that they covered the pavement like the waves

04:07of flooded torrent. When the square was quite full, the bagpiper faced about, and, still

04:15playing briskly, turned towards the river that runs at the foot of the walls of Hamel.

04:19Arrived there, he turned round. The rats were following. Hop! Hop! He cried, pointing with

04:27his finger to the middle of the stream, where the water whirled and was drawn down, as if

04:32through a funnel. And hop! Hop! Without hesitating, the rats took the leap, swam straight to the

04:40funnel, plunged in head foremost and disappeared. The plunging continued thus, without ceasing till

04:46midnight. At last, dragging himself with difficulty, came a big rat, white with age, and stopped

04:52on the bank. It was the king of the band. Are they all there, friend Blanchet? They are

04:57all there. And how many were they? Nine hundred and ninety thousand. Nine hundred and ninety

05:04nine. Well reckoned. Well reckoned. Then go and join them, old sire, and au revoir.

05:10Then the old white rat sprang in his turn into the river, swam to the whirlpool, and disappeared.

05:21When the bagpiper had thus concluded his business, he went to bed at his inn. And for the first

05:26time during three months, the people of Hamel slept quietly through the night. The next morning,

05:32at nine o'clock, the bagpiper repaired to the town hall, where the town council awaited him.

05:38All your rats took a jump into the river yesterday, and I guarantee that not one of

05:43them comes back. They were nine hundred and ninety thousand. Nine hundred and ninety-nine

05:48at one grow a head. Reckoned. Let us reckon the heads first. One grow a head

05:54is one head, the grow. Where are the heads? The rat catcher did not expect this treacherous

05:59stroke. He paled with anger, and his eyes flashed fire. The heads. If you care about them, go and

06:05find them in the river. So, uh, you refuse to hold to the terms of your agreement? We ourselves

06:11could refuse you all payment, but you have been of use to us, and we will not let you

06:16go without a recompense. He offered him fifty crowns. Keep your recompense for yourself.

06:24If you do not pay me, I will be paid by your heirs. Thereupon, he pulled his hat down over

06:30his eyes, went hastily out of the hall, and left the town without speaking to a soul.

06:36When the Hamel people heard how the affair had ended, they rubbed their hands, and with

06:41no more scruple than their town counselor, they laughed over the rat catcher, who, they

06:46said, was caught in his own trap. But what made them laugh above all was his threat of

06:51getting himself paid by their heirs. Ha! They wished that they only had such creditors for

06:57the rest of their lives. Next day, which was a Sunday, they all went gaily to church, thinking

07:04that after Mass, they would at last be able to eat some good thing that the rats had not

07:09tasted before them. They never suspected the terrible surprise that awaited them on their

07:13return home. No children anywhere. They had all disappeared.

07:18Our children! Where are our poor children? Was the cry that was soon heard in all the streets.

07:24Then, through the east door of the town, came a little girl, who cried and wept, and this

07:29is what she told. While the parents were at church, a wonderful music had resounded.

07:34Soon all the little boys and all the little girls that had been left at home had gone

07:38out, attracted by the magic sounds, and had rushed to the great marketplace. There they

07:44found the rat catcher playing his bagpipes at the same spot as the evening before. Then

07:50the stranger had begun to walk quickly, and they had followed, running, singing, and dancing

07:55to the sound of the music, as far as the foot of the mountain, which one sees on entering

08:00Hamel. At their approach, the mountain had opened a little, and the bagpiper had gone

08:05in with them, after which it had closed again. Only the little girl who told the adventure

08:11had remained outside, as if by a miracle. She was bandy-legged, and could not run fast

08:17enough. At this story, the parents redoubled their lamentations. They ran with pikes and

08:23maddox to the mountain, and searched till evening to find the opening by which their

08:27children had disappeared, without being able to find it. At last, the night falling, they

08:33returned desolate to Hamel. But the most unhappy of all was the town counselor, for he lost

08:38three little boys and two pretty little girls. And to crown all, the people of Hamel overwhelmed

08:44him with reproaches, forgetting that, the evening before, they had all agreed with him. What had

08:50become of all these unfortunate children? The parents always hoped they were not dead, and that

08:56the rat-catcher, who certainly must have come out of the mountain, would have taken them with him to

09:01his country. That is why, for several years, they sent in search of them to different countries, but

09:07no one ever came on the trace of the poor little ones. It was not till much later that anything was to

09:13be heard of them. About 150 years after the event, when there was no longer one left of the fathers,

09:20mothers, brothers, or sisters of that day, there arrived one evening in Hamel some merchants of

09:26Bremen returning from the east, who asked to speak with the citizens. They told that they, in crossing

09:33Hungary, had sojourned in a mountainous country called Transylvania, where the inhabitants only spoke

09:39German, while all around them, nothing was spoken but Hungarian. These people also declared that they

09:45came from Germany, but they did not know how they chanced to be in this strange country.

09:50Now, said the merchants of Bremen, these Germans cannot be other than the descendants of the lost

09:56children of Hamel.

Why 130 Children Vanished from Medieval Hamelin - Fairy Tale #DarkFolklore #Storytelling

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