Pied Piper
- proper noun
- /paɪd ˈpaɪpər/
- Literature
:
Flautista de Hamelín
- The tale of the Pied Piper teaches us about the consequences of breaking promises.
I'm not fucking forgive me if I'm butchering where exactly it's from, but the Pied Piper would come to town, play a flute and the children would follow the Pied Piper.
- I'm not fucking forgive me if I'm butchering where exactly it's from, but the Pied Piper would come to town, play a flute and the children would follow the Pied Piper.
Examples
-
The Pied Piper of Hamelin.
-
The Pied Piper is leading the children away.
Blog text (13) -
Did the Pied Piper take the children away because he was mad the town didn't pay him?
-
With them, most will gladly follow him as if he is the Pied Piper.
Blog text (26) -
Terry's version of the Pied Piper (Grimm's version).
Blog text (12) -
In the story, the Pied Piper uses his magical flute to charm the children of Hamelin away from the town.
-
According to legend, the Pied Piper led the children into the mountains after the townspeople refused to pay him.
Synonyms
A character in a story who leads children away by playing a pipe
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a proper name from a specific legend; the sense of a musician who lures rats (and children) away — and the extended metaphorical sense of someone who irresistibly attracts followers — is cultural and not derivable from the parts. A B1 learner who knows 'pied' (multicolored) and 'piper' (a pipe player) would likely interpret it literally as a multicoloured pipe-player, not infer the legendary or idiomatic meaning.
Etymology
Pied Piper comes from a German legend about a man in bright clothes who played a pipe and used his music to lead rats out of a town and later lead the children away. That's why calling someone a Pied Piper today means 'a person who attracts many followers'.
