Fox of Hamelin

Many people know of the tale of the Pied Piper, a story about a man who rid the town of Hamelin of their plague of rats using a magical pipe, but when the town refused to pay he spirited the children away. Over the centuries the tale of the Pied Piper has changed and many different versions emerged, each holds a small bit of truth to them but the truth of what really happened has been lost to time.

But I shall tell you what really happened in that small German town all of those centuries ago, I shall tell you of a devious man's plan to get some money out of a town of greedy people, the trick he played, and the children that helped. Of a man with a magical flute who dressed similarly to a fox.

It was a day like any other in the town of Hamelin when a stranger walked in and sat down in the square, he took his hat off and placed it before him, he then untied a musical pipe from his waist and began to play a beautiful tune. As he played many of the older folk passed by him with scornful looks, making their distaste for the stranger clear, but the musician ignored them and continued to play.

The stranger continued to play well into the evening and the sun was beginning to set, yet not one coin had graced the inside of his hat before him. A lot of dirt had, people kicking it in there as they passed by.

Then there was a small thump in his hat, the stranger stopped playing to look in his hat and found a single coin, he looked up to see a girl standing in front of him. She looked to be fourteen and was dressed in well-looking clothes.

"Thank you kindly, miss." The stranger said.

"You're not likely to get more than that from this town." The girl told him. "Today you were showed kindness, but tomorrow it will be made clear you're unwelcome. This town is not kind to strangers."

The girl then hurried away.

The stranger frowned then stood up, he tied his pipe to his waist again and bent down to pick up his hat, he took out the coin and dusted off the dirt before placing it back on his head. He ventured just outside of the town to set camp for the night, he doubted the towns folk would take kindly to him sleeping inside the town.

As he lay beneath a tree he took out the coin the girl had given him.

"One measly coin." Said a voice. "After all that, just one coin. The last town was much more generous."

The stranger turned his head to look at the small floating fox.

"And if what that girl said is true, I won't have much luck tomorrow either." The stranger said. "Which means I'll have to do something else to get some money." He added with a devious smile.

"What do you have in mind?" The creature asked.

"I don't know yet, I'll go back into town tomorrow for ideas, I have just enough money to buy some food so I don't look suspicious."

"Okay, goodnight."

"Goodnight, Trixx." The stranger said, lowering his hat over his face.

The next day the stranger walked back into town with Trixx hidden under his hat, the towns folk regarded him with even more contempt that the previous day.

He went over to a bread stall to look at the breads on offer, there didn't seem to be a lot.

"Hurry up, boy!" The stall keeper shouted behind him.

A young boy hurried out of the bakery, carrying a tray of fresh bread that looked much too big for him. He was struggling but managed to get the tray onto the stall.

"Sorry, father, had to chase out a rat." The boy said, cringing as if expecting to be hit.

"Grr, rats. They'd eat me out of a business if there were more of them." The man growled. "Well, be faster next time, I have customers." He lightly clipped the boy behind the ear. "Now start making the next batch."

The boy nodded and hurried back inside the bakery.

The stranger gave a frown as he purchased a loaf and walked away.

As the stranger walked through town he took note that the children seemed hard at work, sweeping around, carrying water and that sort of stuff, while the adults seemed to just laze about, the most they did was the adults manning the stalls. The stranger couldn't exactly complain, children doing work happened all the time, even he did it as a lad himself, but the adults also did their share of work. But this town seemed to leave most things to the children.

The stranger eventually found a place to sit down and eat some of his loaf, after a few minutes of eating he put it down to investigate a hole that had suddenly appeared in his trousers, but when he reached back to pick up his loaf again he found it gone. He turned to where he had put his loaf and saw a rat there, quickly munching away at it, when the rat noticed him it took the remaining loaf and ran off with it. The stranger gave chase to get his lunch back but was eventually forced to give up, coming to a stop in a seemingly empty alleyway.

"Stupid rat." He mumbled.

Suddenly an idea came to the stranger and he remembered back to the baker and his comment about more rats.

"That's it!" He exclaimed.

"What?" Trixx asked, flying out from under his hat. "What?"

"A plague of rats." The stranger said, grinning. "I'll make them think they're rat problem's got worse, then come offering to get rid of them for money."

"Perfect." Trixx said happily.

"Come, let us begin." The Stranger said, striding out of town.

Unknown to the stranger of Trixx, a person watched them from a window with something floating next to them.

"Well, Duusu, looks like our hunch was right." She said to the creature.

"Should we stop him?" Duusu asked.

The person shook her head. "No, I say we help, the people of this town deserve it. It seems he has not thought out his plan thoroughly though, if we're destined for a plague of rats, people will eventually question why more food isn't going missing. I'm sure the other children won't mind eating more food and blaming it of the rats."

The person then noticed a rat near, inching towards her own food. She produced a strange whistle and blew it, it didn't produce any sound but the rat seemed in pain and ran away.

"What the adults wouldn't give to know about that." Duusu said with a smile.

"Well, too bad for them it's a special secret." The person replied.

"Adala! Come down for your lesson!" A voice called.

The girl who had given the stranger her coin the previous day sighed and turned from her window, she made sure the broach on her chest was concealed by her shawl before leaving.

Outside of Hamelin, the stranger made sure he was perfectly out of sight before reaching under his shirt and pulling out the necklace he wore, a black pendent on the end.

"Trixx, Fangs Bared!" He said confidently.

Trixx was sucked into the pendent and the pendent turned orange and white to look like a fox tail, orange light washed over the stranger and he now stood in different clothes and looking much neater and cleaner before.

He wore an orange hat that stretched out in a curve past his face, fox ears coming out either side, white shirt, orange jerkin separated by a brown belt, black trousers and brown boots, and an orange cowl with a cape coming out from behind it that went to his ankles and was pointed with a slight curve, and the end of it white, making it look like a fox tail. The stranger's hair neatly went to his chin and was white at the tips.

He smiled and produced a long fancy-looking wooden flute from his cape. He brought the flute to his lips and played a jumpy tune, as he played orange light came from the flute and formed several shapes on the ground, the light then became a pack of rats.

The stranger then ordered the rats into the town with orders to make themselves known but to not allow themselves to be touched, otherwise they'd disappear.

With his work done for now the stranger sat down in satisfaction and waited. His plan would take a few days to enact, he would gradually send more and more illusionary rats into the town to make it seem like they were multiplying, he couldn't just send them in all at once because the town would suspect something.

Over the next few days the town of Hamelin was beset with more and more rats, causing the adults to scream and worry, they tried their best to get rid of them, but they couldn't seem to catch or hit most of the rats. The bakers and other food sellers cried as their food disappeared before they could sell it and many people reported the same for the food in their pantries. The cloth merchants complained of holes in their material and clothes, making it impossible to sell them.

Unknown to the adults, the children were the ones taking away the food and creating the holes in material, making it look like the work of rats, secretly aiding the stranger. Most of them ate the food they stole or stored it away for later, but some took food to the stranger outside of the town. The stranger wasn't aware of them, only of the food that sometimes showed up when he wasn't looking, but he was grateful for the food for him and Trixx.

After nearly a week of the plague of rats, the mayor was at wits end and decided to try something desperate to save his town, he offered a large reward for anyone who could rid the town of rats.

"Ah, this is it." The stranger said happily as he was about to enter the town, Trixx already in his necklace. "Time to get rid of the rats and get that money."

"There seems to be a little problem with your plan." A voice said.

The stranger turned to see a girl, he recognised her as the only one to give him money when he tired playing music in the town square.

"Oh. I don't know why you think that. I am an excellent rat catcher." The stranger said, he didn't think he said anything incriminating.

"You can get rid of your own illusionary rats no problem." Adala said. "But what about the real rats? People are going to think something is wrong if you can't get rid of all of them."

"I don't know what you mean." The stranger said, trying to hide his panic.

"Don't worry, I have one of my own." Adala said.

Duusu flew out from under her shawl and the stranger's eyes widened in disbelief.

"I know about Trixx and your ability to create things that aren't truly there." Alada said. "Duusu explained it all to me, and I saw you when you were planning your little trick."

"So why haven't you told?" The stranger enquired, not bothering to try and lie since he knew it was useless.

"Oh, I have told. The other children, that is. We've actually been helping you, taking food and ruining things to make it seem like the large number of rats did it, we've also left you some of the food."

"So that was you then? I did wonder." The stranger's eyes then narrowed. "What do you want?" He asked suspiciously.

"For what we've done? Nothing. We were happy for the extra food. But, I ask you again, what are you going to do about the real rats?"

"Ah." The stranger said, he hadn't thought of that.

Alada smiled. "The children and I have a proposition. For a portion of the reward money, we'll chase out the real rats for you. If the town pays you that is."

"How much? And what do you mean 'if'?"

Alada shrugged as if trying to make up her mind. "60/40 should do, there is a lot of us after all."

The stranger thought about it, considering the amount of reward money he'd still have a lot. "Sound fair." He said begrudgingly.

"As for the 'if'. This town is full of a lot of selfish and greedy people, so chances are they'll get you to do the job and then try to pay you less or nothing at all."

The stranger frowned. "Well, I can't just back down now." He said.

"I know." Adala said. "Just warning you. Anyway, I'll go tell the other children and we'll wait for your signal, I'm guessing it's will be your playing."

The stranger nodded.

Adala smiled and skipped back into town to where the other children were gathered, she told them that the plan was on and they began spreading themselves throughout the town.

The stranger continued his way into town, having waited a few minutes first to give time for the children to do whatever it was they were going to do, where there was a meeting of adults with the mayor on his stand, offering the reward money to get rid of the rats.

The stranger cleared his throat before speaking up. "I'll rid you of your rats." He said.

Everyone turned towards him and eyed his strange clothes, especially the fox ears in his hat.

"Who are you?" The mayor demanded.

"I am the Pied Piper, and I will rid your town of rats for a price." The stranger said with a bow.

The mayor laughed, not believing him, and the rest of the town joined in.

"If you can rid our town of rats you will get your money, you are welcome to try." The mayor laughed.

The Piper smirked and produced his flute from his cape, playing a tune on it.

The illusionary rats perked up before running towards him, people screamed as the rats ran passed them, none of them touching anyone to avoid disappearing though. From their hiding places the children took this are their cue and began to blow on their special whistles, which causing the rats pain and attempt to get away from them.

The Piper continued to play as he walked out of the town with his illusionary rats following behind. Using their special whistles, the children herded the real rats out of the town as well. Eventually, both illusionary rats and real rats had left the town and the town cheered, the Piper 'drowned' his rats in the nearby river for effect, some of the real rats followed the fake rats into the river while the rest ran off to get away from the painful whistles.

The Piper marched proudly back into town and held out his hand towards the mayor.

"I'll be taking the money now." He said.

The mayor still looked shocked before recovering and smiling deviously.

"Of course, here you are." The mayor said, handing over a small bag of coins.

The Piper regarded the small bag in distain.

"This is much smaller than what was promised." He said.

The mayor then frowned.

"Well, it's all you're getting. You should be glad we're paying you at all, for all we know you brought the rats in the first place." The mayor said.

The Piper growled, ignoring how close to the truth the mayor was. He turned angrily and walked away before stopping and turning back.

"Hear this, Hamelin." He said angrily. "You shall pay dearly for what you have denied me, this I swear!"

"Ha! What can you do?" The mayor laughed along with the towns folk. "You're pipe only plays for rats, and you have drowned them away. Blow your pipe until you burst, it will do you no good."

The Piper only growled and turned away, disappearing out of sight.

Once he was out of sight the Piper released his transformation, still angry, Trixx equally so.

He heard a whistle or appreciation. "They shall 'pay dearly'? That's a big promise." Adala said. "I did warn you."

"I suppose you want your part of the money." The Piper asked scornfully.

Adala shook her hand and held her hand up.

"No, I knew your plan wouldn't succeed very well." She said, pointing at Duusu. "Dussu showed me that."

"Then why'd you help out in the first place?" The Piper asked as Trixx and Dussu happily embraced.

"Well, there was still a chance it could work. But mainly, we have a bigger plan that involved yours." Adala explained.

"What's that?"

"You see, the other children and I have been waiting a while to play a little game, but we've never had the right situation to play it in until now. You see, our parents aren't exactly caring, they mostly just make us work and complain about how we cost money and food. We've wanted to leave but we can't just go otherwise they'll chase after us and then punish us. But if a piper came and led us all away…" Adala trailed off with a smile.

The Piper quickly caught on. "They would think you disappeared under mysterious means and not go after you."

"Exactly. We get out freedom, and you get to make the town 'pay'."

The Piper grinned. "I'm in." He said.

"Good. Come with me. We need to meet to sort out the details." Adala said, walking off with the Piper following.

A few days later, on Saint John and Paul's day, the children and Piper executed their plan.

As all the adults were gathered inside the church, leaving the children to get on with their chores, some children quietly blocked off the doors and other exits, effectively trapping the adults inside the church.

Once that was done they gave the thumbs up to the Piper who stood in his fox-form in the town square. He nodded in acknowledgement and then brought his flute to his lips and began to play, the tune was bright and happy, ideal to dance to.

The children made a show of stopping their chores and emerging from their houses for anyone who might already be watching, they then began dancing, moving towards the Piper. The Piper then began dancing himself while still playing before leading the way out of town with the children following.

From inside the church the adults heard the music and at first dismissed it, but then one of them caught sight of the Piper and the dancing children.

"It's the piper from before, and he has the children!" They called.

Everyone raced to the window to see the Piper leading the children out of town, the children seemingly under his spell as they danced their way after him. They raced to the doors to stop them only to find that the door wouldn't open.

"It won't open." One cried.

As some of the adults tried desperately to find their way out of the church, others watched as their children were led away.

As the Piper and children reached a spit in the path, one leading to some mountains with the other one heading in the opposite direction, the Piper made an illusion of himself and the children and sent it off in the direction of the mountains while he and the children took the other path under invisibility. The Piper stopped playing and the children stopped dancing, they then began running to get away from the town, picking up the bags they had packed and left in some trees, to prevent suspicion about them being ready to leave, along the way.

The adults eventually managed to break out of the church and race after their children, they followed the illusions towards the mountains but they were a far distance away already and eventually lost sight of them, the illusions disappearing once out of sight. The adults scoured the mountains for countless hours but found no trace of their children, eventually concluding that the Piper must have spirited them away in the mountains and heading back to the town.

Back with the children and Piper, the Piper dropped his transformation as the children thanked him.

"Good luck to you, sir, in your further travels." Adala told the Piper as he and the children prepared to part ways.

"Yours too." The Piper said. "Where will you all go?"

"To find work elsewhere." Adala said with a shrug. "Maybe find a new place to make our home. We know how to grow things and have the supplies."

"Will you stay together?"

"Some will branch off on their own, but we hope to stay together."

"Well, may god watch over all of you and your Kwami protect you." The Piper said, turning and walking away.

"Goodbye!" Adala and the children called after him.

The children then gathered up their supplies and headed off in their chosen direction.

The main inspiration for this story came from the Heather Dale song 'Pied Piper', which is about how the entire Pied Piper thing was just a ruse by the children of Hamelin and a traveling piper in order to escape their town. I also added some references from the Disney version of the story.