A first American edition of Kurt Baumann's The Pied Piper of Hamelin, in which the piper leads the children of greedy Hamelin to a better place.
Text by Kurt Baumann. Illustrated by Jean Claverie. First American edition, 1978. (Original published in Germany in 1977.) Methuen Publications.
There was a village in Germany called Hamelin, and there are documents that describe a church window that depicted the story of the Pied Piper. There are many variations on the ending of this ancient tale of greed and dishonesty, and some do not end well for the village children. Fortunately, in this version the children meet a happier fate.
In Kurt Baumann's telling of the story, the villagers of Hamelin made their living buying cheap goods from itinerate peddlers and reselling them at exorbitant prices. As they grew richer, and fatter, they grew greedier. They also grew more and more self-absorbed and less interested in their children. One of them, a boy with a gift for music, comes of age and, disgusted with the village, strikes out on his own.
The village's reputation for abundant food and rich scraps attracts rats, first one, then more than the village can handle. Having tried every trick to get rid of them, they resort to hiring someone to do the job.
The boy who left the village had made a name for himself, the Pied Piper, and returns to claim the money the villagers offer to rid them of the rates, knowing it will pain them to pay the bill. He successfully leads the rates to the river, and their deaths. But the villagers decide he didn't work hard enough for the money, despite his success, and pay him only half of what they promised. As they celebrate good riddance to the rats, the Pied Piper leads their children out of the village to a better place. And proves the importance of paying the piper.
Jean Claverie's artwork captures the villagers' corpulent selfishness
Condition*: Near Fine/Very Good. There are three very small bumps on the bottom edge of the front cover board and one on the back edge. The dust jacket has two closed tears on the front and back.
* Based on guidelines of the Independent Online Booksellers' Association.
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