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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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The Pied Piper of Hamelin
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(1842) Poem by Robert *Browning, published in Dramatic Lyrics. The piper saves the town of Hamelin from a plague of rats by getting them to follow him as he pipes, but his fee is not paid. In revenge he works the same magic on the children of Hamelin, who dance behind him until all but one vanish into a cave. The legend, widely known from the Middle Ages, may be a folk memory of the hysteria of 1212, when thousands set off on the so-called *Children's Crusade to the Holy Land and few returned.
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