From Tom Wilkins : In the town of Hamelin, many years ago, the citizens were crying out a tearful tale of woe. Yes, Hamelin was contaminated with more rats than you can count! The townspeople had no prayer getting rid of all the rats because they were severely outnumbered; food establishments had no chance because the rats were always hungry and eating everything in site - don't ask me how cheese companies would fare. Needless to say, the rats certainly were never hungry. However, the people literally cried out, "enough is too much."

Everyone in Hamelin rallied together and got the message across loud and clear to the mayor, "We gotta get rid of the rats!" Well, the mayor speaks out (well, sings out) about the serious dilemma; which the rats took very unkindly by hissing at him. At this point, the Pied Piper walks into town with the community pleading for someone to do something, while the mayor offers a shiny bag of gold as a reward for whomever gets rid of the rats. (Thank heavens they weren't guinea pigs!)

Out of nowhere, the piper speaks out and promises the mayor that he would single-handedly get rid of the rats. He fulfills what he said, begins to swoon his harmonic pipe (shaped like the cheapest recorder you could find at any elementary school), marches like John Phillip Sousa while playing like Benny Goodman standing up - and the rats follow him out of the town gates. The community goes nuts, except they forgot to let one rat out after a few people closed the gates. Those same people were much obliged to reopen the gates and let the last rat out of town, to the community's delight. The piper subsequently uses his own imagination by picturing an imaginary large chunk of cheese. To the rats' surprise, they run into the cheese, wanting whatever was there in this enormous snack - then the piper musically plays his pipe and makes the cheese (and the rats) disappear.

The piper returns to supposedly collect his bag of gold - and the mayor decides to join the townspeople in some advanced Benedict Arnold politicking. To the piper's dismay, the mayor and his townspeople show their true colors by hysterically mocking him all because the piper played a tune while leading the rats out of town, so all the cheapskate mayor flipped to him was one gold coin. The piper vehemently exclaims the dishonesty and promises to save the children of Hamelin before they get vacuumed into such tyranny. After flipping the coin away, the piper decides to pipe away again - only this time he leads the children out of town to some unknown destination. The music immediately delights the overworked children and they come running to follow the piper - even the stork, who was about to make a delivery, was following the fold. A disadvantaged child could not keep up with the rest of the crowd of youngsters but wanted every part of this journey. All the mayor and all the townspeople could do was watch in disbelief.

When everyone arrived at the mountain, the piper tooted one more time and the mountain opened, and the children ran with exhilaration into a picturesque toyland, where there would be nothing but happiness for all. Even the disadvantaged child was instantly healed when he saw this happy place. He threw down his crutches. The piper picked up after him, but figured he did not need them - so he threw the crutches away as he closed the mountain and this cartoon.

From Ryan Kilpatrick at The Disney Film Project : If you’re like me, you are somewhat familiar with the tale of the Pied Piper, even if you don’t know all the details. That made the prospect of viewing Disney’s Silly Symphony version a happy one. And it did not disappoint, but the ending was quite a surprise for me, because I had forgotten that particular aspect of the story.

Start with the animation work here. It is fantastic. The animation of the characters is extremely well done, with each human figure having different features, and even the rats of Hamelin are distinct and different from one another. That’s quite a feat when you’re drawing rats or a crowd scene of people, but the people we see up close are all distinct. This short had to have taken a long time to draw.

You also get amazing characterization in the animation. There are two main characters in the short – the Pied Piper and the Mayor of Hamlin. Both are instantly recognizable as the protagonist and antagonist, respectively. The Mayor’s grubby hands and scheming eyes come to the forefront first thing, as does the Pied Piper’s earnest eyes and carefree, innocent nature.

As far as the story goes, it’s familiar, I’m sure. The rats have overrun the town of Hamelin, and the populace is revolting. The mayor promises a bag of gold to the person who can rid the town of the rats. He says this just as the Pied Piper strolls into town, so naturally, the newcomer takes him up on the offer.

As the Pied Piper plays, he leads the rats out the front gates, and off into a field, making them believe that there’s a large block of cheese there for them. However, when he returns for his bag of gold, the Mayor decides to double cross him, and refuses.

This is the part I did not remember. The Pied Piper curses the town, because it’s not just the Mayor who jeers at him from above. The Piper tells the townsfolk that he will steal their children, because the kids should not grow up as evil as they are. The Mayor challenges him to do his worst. Bad move.

The Piper’s playing brings out the children, who follow him to a mountain hideaway, full of toys, as the song “Toyland” plays. I do not know the history of this song, but I know it’s a popular one today at the Disney Parks around Christmas time. Was this the first time the song was performed? Or was it a popular song before this?

Regardless, the short ends with the children in the Toyland, and the townspeople mad at the mayor. It’s a great story, with real consequences, and not necessarily a happy ending, which is rare for Disney. The ending is really a morally ambiguous one, and that’s not something you see from short cartoons. Very interesting and extremely well done.

From Kurtis : The song "Toyland" is from the 1903 operetta Babes in Toyland, written by Victor Herbert. I'm sure that many people of that day would have recognized the song.

The first time Babes in Toyland and the song would been seen on film is the Laurel and Hardy version in 1934, a year after the release of Pied Piper.

Disney would later use the song in their version of Babes in Toyland in 1961. It is because of this movie that the song has become a perennial favorite at the Disney parks.

From RJ : I like this one. The character designs were a significant step up and they were first thing that I noticed about the short. Combined with a classic tale that incorporates music as an important plot element, its hard to go wrong.

From Mac : This seems to be a somewhat under rated Disney cartoon. It never appears on any "best of" list, even though I think it's one the better Disney cartoons for all reasons listed in Ryan's post.

You can almost see the animation evolving as we watch this one. It may look a little sloppy in some places, but there's some good poses and great expressions. The mayor's sneering face as he insultingly tosses the Piper a single coin is great – it really makes you hate him!

The ending is an early example of what some would call a "Disney version" – brightening up bleak spots in traditional tales to make them less creepy. Here, the rats disappear in a giant cheese and the slave-children are offered a happy life in Happy Land (the song say Toy Land, but the sign says Happy Land!) rather than grow up to be like the adults. In original versions of the story the Piper drowns the rats and lures the children away as revenge for not being paid. They end up in a cave alright, but it ain't no Happy Land!