11 Pipers Piping Trivia Quiz

Answer: The town's maidens

Goethe's "Der Rattenfänger" ("The Rat-Catcher", translated into English by Edgar Alfred Bowring) is a three stanza poem written in the first person. In the first section, the musician speaks about his prowess over rats and weasels ("I cleanse the place from ev'ry one / All needs must helter-skelter run"). The second section describes the hypnotic effect his music has on children ("I bid the chords sweet music make / And all must follow in my wake."). In the third section, the minstrel is revealed to be a serial "maiden-catcher" as well, although it is unclear if Goethe is referencing the musician's powers of kidnapping or seduction:

"However coy may be each maid,
However the women seem afraid,
Yet all will love-sick be ere long
To sound of magic lute and song."

The poem's lyrical nature lent itself well to musical accompaniment, as it was later set to music by Franz Schubert and Hugo Wolf.

Answer: The Brothers Grimm

Unlike the stories found in "Kinder-und Hausmärchen" ("Children's and Household Tales"), the accounts in the Brothers Grimm's "Deutsche Sagen" were supposedly based in historical fact. "The Children of Hamelin" was reputedly based on eleven sources, and featured dates, figures, and a detailed description of the events that occur in Hamelin in 1284, when a pipe player wearing a multi-colored (pied) coat helps the town with its rat infestation by luring the rodents with his music into the River Weser where they drowned. After the townsfolk reneged on their promise to pay, the piper led 130 of the town's children (some as young as four years old) into the mountains, and they were never heard from again. The story also contains accounts of the children left behind, like the absent-minded boy who went back for his jacket and "thus escaped the tragedy", and two others who lagged behind due to their disabilities:

"The blind one was not able to point out the place, but was able to tell how they had followed the piper. The mute one was able to point out the place, although he (or she) had heard nothing."

Answer: Keep your promises

Browning's vivid descriptions in his delightful rendition of the familiar tale are a joy to read. In contrast to the version by the Brothers Grimm, the tone is light and humorous, and clearly aimed at young readers. In fact, the poem is expressly addressed to a child named Willy. Browning's account of the story paints the piper as a victim who gets taken advantage of by the town's greedy adults. The removal of the children is just recompense for their wicked ways. The poem also suggests that the children may be better off having followed the piper, as conveyed by the lament of the lame child left behind, who speaks of "a joyous land" promised to them where "waters gushed and fruit trees grew / and flowers put forth a fairer hue". The poem ends with the following sober lesson:

"So, Willy, let me and you be wipers
Of scores out with all men - especially pipers!
And whether they pipe us from rats or from mice,
If we've promised them aught, let us keep our promise."

Answer: By claiming that the piper failed to hold up his end of the bargain

Lang's account of the Pied Piper tale contains details that differ significantly from other versions. The piper plays bagpipes instead of the usual fife or flute, sings in French, and can apparently talk to rats. After leading all but one of the rats into the river to drown, he asks the last rat to verify their numbers (rats are apparently skilled at math) before letting him join his compatriots. Lang's version also provides slightly different details around the fee negotiated with the piper. When the piper arrives claiming to be able to rid the town of the rats, the villagers are alarmed as they think he must be some kind of sorcerer.

The town counsellor has a different thought, and believes that the piper must have sent the rats to them in the first place in order to profit from their removal. Determined to "catch the devil in his own snares", the counsellor accepts the piper's offer to dispatch all the rats in the town in exchange for payment of "a gros a head", which would have amounted to millions of florins.

But when the piper returns to collect his fee, the counsellor asks him to produce the heads. The piper replies that they are all in the river, so the counsellor accuses him of reneging on the terms of their agreement and claims that this excuses them from having to make payment. Upon learning about how the counsellor had bested the piper, the townsfolk celebrate. As retribution for their treachery, the piper returns the next day and takes all the town's children.

Answer: Marriage to the mayor's daughter

Marina Tsvetaeva's "The Ratcatcher" is a much darker tale, and was evidently an allegorical criticism of the excesses of the Bolshevik revolutionaries. Tsvetaeva clearly disapproves of the materialism of the "soulless" citizens of Hamelin, who abhor all kinds of music.

When the town's market becomes overrun with rats, the town's council promises that anyone who can rid the town of its rats will be rewarded with the hand of Greta, the daughter of the town's Burgomaster (mayor), in marriage. After the piper arrives and dispatches the town's rats in the local pond, the town is suddenly faced with the very real prospect of losing Greta to a musician and beggar-like character.

The town's councilors debate the propriety of the piper marrying the Burgomaster's daughter, and eventually replace the promised reward with a papier-mâché flute case. Enraged, the piper punishes the town's residents by luring their children (including Greta) away and drowning them in the same pond.

Answer: The One Who Stayed

"The One Who Stayed" is written from the point of view of a child who didn't follow the piper when he led the rest of the children out of the town of Hamlin. He begins by describing the cries of the parents when "that sad stranger raised his flute" and lured the children away. He goes on to catalog the playmates and relatives that he lost to the piper - "Katy, Tommy, Meg and Bob... Red-haired Ruth, my brother Rob... John and Nils and Cousin Claire... 'Cross the hills to God knows where". Even "little crippled Bailey" managed to make the journey. So how is it that this child was left behind? The answer is revealed at the poem's end:

"I cannot say I did not hear
That sound so haunting hollow -
I heard, I heard, I heard it clear...
I was afraid to follow."

Shel Silverstein found early success as a cartoonist before turning his skills to writing stories for children. He is best known for his collections of whimsical poetry and the children's book "The Giving Tree". He was also an accomplished playwright, screenwriter, and songwriter, winning a Grammy for writing Johnny Cash's "A Boy Named Sue".

Answer: Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett was an English fantasy author, best known for his satirical writing style and his "Discworld" series of books. "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents" was the 28th "Discworld" novel, but the first aimed specifically at children. The book recasts the events of the Pied Piper story as elements of an elaborate con. When the strange bedfellows reach a new town, the rats create havoc, paving the way for Keith and Maurice to swoop in and save the day - for a fee, of course. The scam is described in this way in the book:

"It was a good routine, even Maurice had to admit. Some towns had advertised for a rat piper the very first time he'd done it. People could tolerate rats in the cream, and rats in the roof, and rats in the teapot, but they drew the line at tapdancing. If you saw tap-dancing rats, you were in big trouble. Maurice had reckoned that if only the rats could play an accordion as well they could do two towns a day."

In 2002, the book was awarded the prestigious Carnegie Medal. The decision of the panel of judges that year was unanimous. "This is an outstanding work of literary excellence," a judge explained, "A brilliant twist on the tale of the Pied Piper that is funny and irreverent, but also dark and subversive."

Answer: Poisoning

Both books are works of historical fiction aimed at young adults that attempt to find non-supernatural explanations for the events in Hamelin. Both stories prominently feature ergot poisoning, which occurs when the victim ingests rye contaminated with a purple fungus that thrives in cold or wet weather. The afflicted commonly experience hallucinations, convulsions, and gangrene of the fingers and toes.

"What Happened in Hamelin" is told from the point of view of an orphaned baker's apprentice who is the only accomplice to the piper's machinations. The piper cleanses the town of the rats by feeding them salted meat and blocking their usual water supplies, enabling him to lure them to the river to their deaths. When the town refuses to pay him, he gets his revenge by poisoning the children with ergot-contaminated rye, causing them to exhibit a form of dancing mania that he claims can only be relieved by music and prayer. While the parents are occupied in church, the piper leads the children out of town and sells them to colonists to help in their re-population efforts.

"Breath" employs ergot poisoning in a slightly different way. A bumper crop of grain affected by ergot poisons the entire adult population of the town when they consume bread made from the new harvest and mead and beer brewed from the tainted hops. The residents blame their illness on rats, leaving the way open for a malevolent piper to come and take advantage of the town's woes. The story is written from the point of view of Saul, a 12 year old boy mostly unaffected by the ergot poisoning because he abstains from drinking as a means to combat his cystic fibrosis. By the end, Saul becomes the lame child who cannot keep up with the piper when he leads the children out of town.

Answer: Rock singer

"Pay the Piper" is billed as "A Rock 'n' Roll Fairy Tale". When the rock band Brass Rat comes to town, a 14-year-old student journalist named Callie is assigned to cover the concert and interview the lead singer, a charismatic but self-absorbed flautist named Peter Gringras (how he manages to sing and play the flute at the same time is never explained). Things take a turn for the weird when Callie overhears a strange conversation backstage.

The band members are upset because they aren't getting paid for the concert as the proceeds are meant for charity, and they have only one day left to make some kind of payment in the form of silver, gold, or human souls. Turns out that Gringras is really a faerie prince, exiled to the mortal realm centuries ago for killing his brother and forced to make recompense every seven years to his father, the faerie king.

When he can't come up with the money, he lures children back to the faerie realm just as he did in 13th century Hamelin. When the children in Callie's town (including her brother) suddenly vanish on Halloween, it is up to her to piece together the pieces of the mystery and get them back.

Answer: Peter Piper

Max's younger brother, Peter, is best known for having picked a peck of pickled peppers, and for inspiring the "Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater" nursery rhyme (busy chap), but there's more to him than that. Peter and Max were once part of a family of traveling musicians. When their father passes the family's magical flute to Peter because he is the more talented player, he inadvertently sets in motion a terrible sequence of events. Fueled by jealousy, Max kills their father and makes an unsuccessful attempt on Peter's life. He procures his own magical flute from a witch of the Black Forest and returns to confront his brother, who has settled in the town of Hamelin with the love of his life, Little Bo Peep. When Peter deflects a magical spell that is meant for him, it ends up crippling Bo Peep, setting the stage for a showdown years later between the two brothers to settle the score.

"Peter and Max" is based on the author's "Fables" series of graphic novels.