There are several editions of this book aimed at different audiences. Bibliophiles had a chance to buy the first edition in a limited and signed version which was published in 1934 with 410 copies only. Today you can get one for several thousand dollars (depending on condition). This is how it looks:
The inside is more or less the same. It's a legend about the piper and the rats.
But more importantly - it's a story about broken promises and their consequences.
The story was written by Robert Browning but is adapted for this case. A lot. The publisher was George Harrap & Co. Ltd who was very skillful at selling collectible books among which, of course, Arthur Rackham's works had a very special place.
Hamelin was infested with rats. They were everywhere. They were stealing food, making noise in bedrooms, and destroying furniture. In short, life in Hamelin was unbearable. For people, not for the rats, of course.
People were desperate. They tried to get rid of the rats but nothing helped. They were willing to do anything to solve that problem. Anything.
Then a stranger came into the town of Hamelin. He wasn't just a new face, he actually looked strange. His clothes were unusually colorful and his voice was funny. And he offered a solution to the town council.
He promised to clean the town of rats. He said he could make them disappear. Fast. Are they willing to pay him? The major was super excited. If Hamelin could get rid of the rats, the stranger would definitely be rewarded. He would get a fortune!
Strange people are expected to do strange things but the man who promised to heal the rat infestation still surpassed the expectations. He took a pipe and started playing. It was a very unusual melody.
But it worked like a charm. Rats started coming out of their holes, cracks, and other hideouts. Soon the streets were full of them. The piper walked through the town and rats followed him. New and new packs of rats came from all directions. The paement was covered with rats and all followed the pied piper like hypnotised. The people of Hamelin watched the scene in amazement.
The pied piper led countless packs of rats all the way out of town to the coast where the rats followed him into the ocean where they drowned one by one until none of them was left. The town of Hamelin was clean again. The piper kept his word.
But the town council didn't. They were free of rats and could finally start living as they hoped. And they could use their money for much better things than paying the piper. Why they should pay him? Because they promised? What could he do?
He certainly couldn't bring the rats back! Everybody saw they drowned!
When the piper realized they cheated him he took his pipe again and started playing. The tune was different this time. Of course, it was. It wasn't meant for rats.
It charmed the children. The children of Hamelin. The offspring of the lying townspeople.
Kids started dancing according to the tune played by the pied piper. They came out of their houses, left the playgrounds, and forgot everything else but the mesmerizing melody. The tune of the pipe. They followed the pied piper just like the rats did.
Their parents saw what was happening but their feet couldn't move. Nobody couldn't stop the dancing children led by the stranger with the magical pipe. He led them out of the town. Parents could only watch until they disappeared in the distance. And nobody saw them again.
This is how the town of Hamelin got rid of the rats and lost all their children.
This legend inspired many artists and caused many theories about real events that supposedly happened in the town of Hamelin.
Here are two other artists and their vision of the legend: