THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN. ([PAGE] 1.)
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The poem is based on an old myth found in many forms, all turning upon the attempt to cheat a magician out of his promised reward. See Brewer's Reader's Handbook, Baring-Gould's Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, Grimm's Deutsche Sagen, and the Encyclopaedia Britannica. There are Persian and Chinese analogues.
The eldest son of William Macready, the actor, was confined to the house by illness, and Browning wrote this jeu d'esprit to amuse the boy and to give him a subject for illustrative drawings.
[1]. [Hamelin]. A town in Hanover, Prussia.
[89]. [Cham], or Khan. The title of the rulers of Tartary.
[91]. [Nizam]. The title of the sovereign of Hyderabad, the principal state of India.
[158]. [Claret], Moselle, etc. Names of wines.
[179]. [Caliph]. The title given to the successor of Mohammed, as head of the Moslem state, and defender of the faith. Century Dictionary.
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