Where any one playing on pipe or tabor
Was sure for the future to lose his labour.”
In this myth Odin is the piper, the shrill tones of the flute are emblematic of the whistling wind, the rats represent the souls of the dead, which cheerfully follow him, and the hollow mountain into which he leads the children is typical of the grave.
Bishop Hatto
Another German legend which owes its existence to this belief is the story of Bishop Hatto, the miserly prelate, who, annoyed by the clamours of the poor during a time of famine, had them burned alive in a deserted barn, like the rats whom he declared they resembled, rather than give them some of the precious grain which he had laid up for himself.
“‘I’ faith, ’tis an excellent bonfire!’ quoth he,
‘And the country is greatly obliged to me
For ridding it in these times forlorn
Of rats that only consume the corn.’”