Prelude to the Pied Piper's Peak Performance

The resurgence of rats in the town of Hamelin, coming at a time when Germany's mighty economy slipped into recession, may be an ominous sign of unsavory events about to impact on the German nation. The rat infestation that plagued the town over 700 years before has reemerged from its legendary past, in an eerie development that seems to challenge the community's resolve to contest their existence. The rats have consolidated to do battle with the 21st century Pied Piper, and in the process, seek to alter the outcome of that classic deception and change the legend that has stood for more than seven centuries.

In the year 1284, based on the legend that sprang from Hamelin, this German town was overrun with rats that wreaked havoc on the its growth, development and regular activities of daily living; creating dysfunctional social relationships, conflict among citizens, and misery for the entire population. A pied Piper was hired to rid the town of its misery with a promise of compensation. The Pied Piper played music that entranced the rats and lured them in the river to drown. After his success, the townspeople reneged on their promise to pay, which compelled the Piper to teach them a lesson by luring all of the town's children in a cave and locking them inside with him, never to be seen again.

This year's rats are in an abandoned allotment site at the edge of town, but threatens to spread to neighboring housing estates. The rat population has exploded on the site and the town has sought outside assistance for its control and elimination. Response has been coming in, but this battle is a mere speck that the people of Hamelin, and Germany as a whole, need to fight. Germany's enviable economy had been infested with rats in investment banking clothing who feasted on the bounty and wealth of the country. As the economy suffered by the sheer volume of their insatiable greed and growing numbers, they infected adherents in government as well. And when the collapse was declared last Thursday, these rats even attempted to take a huge chunk of what was left for the winter of their avaricious lives.

A Pied Piper is indeed needed, not only for Hamelin but for Germany; to lure these dirty rats out into the open where they can be drowned - even from the spit of the entire German population. Next year, Hamelin plans to celebrate the 725th anniversary of the Pied Piper's conquest of the plague, together with a huge children's procession - even if the children were sacrificed by the Piper in the original story. Today, it is the citizens that are being sacrificed by allowing the rats to remain free and enjoy their spurious wealth. It would do well for the citizens and the government to celebrate the Pied Piper's anniversary by identifying these rats and locking them all in prison, never to be seen again. Or perhaps, to send them over to Hamelin, bound at the allotment site, to be feasted on by their ilk.

Haaaarrrwwwwwk...Twoooooooph...Ting!