# pied piper reference to the Pied Piper of Hamelin, a character in a poem by Robert Browning, based on a German folk tale from the Middle Ages. The town of Hamelin is infested with rats, and the citizens hire a piper in multicolored (pied) clothing to lure the rats out with his charming music. The rats follow the piper into the river and drown. When the townspeople refuse to pay the piper, he lures away all the children of the town.