The fatal human self-deception that it is possible to get something for nothing, to engage in sex and remain innocent, to get gold from worthless metals - has probably existed since the existence of man, although its intensity is unevenly distributed geographically. It is especially pronounced in these regions where it has transformed into one of the long series of clumsy transitional wisdoms where it is usually about some character who had nothing and after a certain period, in an unknown and mysterious way - became rich and thus materialized the fantasies of the local people for instant acquisition of power and status...
There is an interesting story that sublimates this tragic self-deception, which originated in the late Middle Ages in the territory that six centuries later would become known as Germany. Namely in 1284, in a small town called Hameln - the citizens were faced with an infestation of rats which at that time were a terrible threat, especially as carriers of fleas that carried plague (a situation that would escalate globally seventy years later). The pests ate and polluted the already scarce food reserves, which was the cause of the famine. The city authorities tried to find a way to get rid of the rodent invasion - but without success. Until one fine day when the stranger, the hero, the X-factor appeared on the scene - a musician in colorful clothes who arrived from an unknown direction in the city and told the city fathers that he could solve the rat problem in 24 hours for the modest price of 100 gold coins.
The authorities were suspicious of the stranger, but since they had no choice - they agreed to the price, their skepticism was so great that instead of 100, they promised him 1,000 gold coins if he really managed to eliminate the rats. The piper accepted, and the next morning, strange sounds began to spread throughout the city from his pipe. The rats began to "march" to the seductive beat of the music coming from the piper and began to follow the piper who led them to the river. Within a few hours, all the city rats drowned in the river thanks to the hypnotic trance that was induced by the piper's music.
The citizens, crazy with joy, began to celebrate, and what did the city authorities do at that moment? They decided that 1,000 gold coins was too much, even though it was such a monumental service. The piper insisted on his original demand of 100 gold coins, but again in vain - the rats disappeared anyway and the money was divided between the authorities. The piper was left with the pipe...in his mouth.
But the piper was not a character to be easily dealt with, and his revenge was extreme. The next morning dawned quietly and eerily, devoid of the usual childish chatter. After searching the entire city - the citizens found only one child, lame or crippled - who told what had happened. That morning - while walking through the city streets - the piper played a different melody that this time did not send rats into a hypnotic trance but attracted children. The long column of children that he attracted in this way - disappeared into the surrounding forests with the exception of the lame child who could not follow the others and thus was the only one saved from an unknown fate.
The next day, the piper reappeared in the city and demanded his well-earned 100 gold coins in exchange for the children's lives. This time, the authorities had no choice but to pay the piper, who in turn led the citizens to a cave in the forest where the city's children were safe and sound - as collateral for the ungrateful citizens who wanted to get something without investing anything. The piper continued on his way through the labyrinth of legends with his honestly earned money, and the citizens were happy that their children were saved from a tragic end similar to that of the rats. This story had hundreds of versions throughout the centuries, the Brothers Grimm themselves later engaged in adaptation, and the most altruistic variant says that the piper was not a stranger to the city but a local resident who drowned the rats with the help of a pipe during a plague epidemic, entering the river himself to direct the rodents there and with his self-sacrifice saved the city from death.
Like many other old tales - this one is full of archetypes and stereotypes, lessons and morals. One of them is the completely noble truth that all those who want to get something without investing anything - are a source of evil and suffering that spreads along the path of their idiotic self-deception.
(An update, the rats are back after 740 years, the Piper`s nowhere to be seen nowadays, presumably grew cynical)
(Roger Mortis, 107)
No comments:
Post a Comment