Stories Are Powerful

My shorts fit snugger than usual after my incredible week of family vacation on Tybee last week. “IT’S TIME TO PAY THE PIPER,” I grumbled while lacing up my walking shoes this morning.

Where did that phrase come from? And who is the piper? Just like that, I was pulled down the rabbit hole of curiosity. One initial search gave me the answer I was looking for. The phrase comes from the fable of the Pied Piper of Hamelin who the town’s mayor hired to clear out the rats from the small German village. He played a song and lured them away but was not paid for his work. His revenge for the lack of payment was to steal all the town’s children.

EWWW!!! That can’t be true. What’s the real story?

We all know that storytellers usually pass down fables, and each story holds a smidge of truth. So, after a lot more digging, I found the smidge. This one is traced back to the mid-1300s when hundreds of children in Hamelin died in the Black Plague—as well as 1/3 of the population in Europe. The story became the parents’ way to deal with their deaths. Insert LARGE SIGH!

Isn’t it crazy how a phrase used over 1000 years ago can still be said? That’s the power of storytelling, whether it’s spread by word of mouth, written in book form, or watched on screens. STORIES ARE POWERFUL!

Now, back to the problem at hand. I never made it on my walk this morning. Some days, the waistline expands while the brain expands. However, I did learn a valuable lesson. It’s time to pay the piper means taking responsibility for your actions, and I plan to do that first thing tomorrow—or the next day. That is unless I get pulled down another rabbit hole.