Piper led away children because mayor refused to pay him for...

Original Track ID

SA1960.144.A5

Original Tape ID

SA1960.144

Summary

A piper led children away because the mayor refused to pay him for clearing the town of rats.

[Tape faulty at beginning.] There was a plague of rats in the town. A beautiful gentleman came and made a bargain with the greedy mayor that he would get rid of the rats for payment. The man played beautiful music on his pipe and all the rats followed him to a hill, which opened up and closed again once all the rats were inside. The piper went back to the mayor for his money but the mayor refused to pay. In revenge the piper played his pipe again and this time all the children of the town followed him into the hill and were never seen again.

Item Subject/Person

Pied Piper

Recording Location

Language

Scots

Genre

Story

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good