The moral of the story

[BiscuitHammer]

It's amazing how many people miss the moral point of The Pied Piper fable. The moral is NOT 'Don't trust strangers', the moral is 'Pay your freelancers, you stupid grots!'

Same applies to writers. End of discussion.

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

You mean 'pay your writers, you readers...' Don't you?

Because who knows where we'll lead 'you.'

 

[AlinaX]

The moral is: don't assume individuals are powerless against the state.

 

[SimonDoom]

I thought the point of the story was to draw a parallel between children and rats, but perhaps I was having a bad parenting day when I read it.

 

[Hypoxia]

The moral is: don't assume individuals are powerless against the state.

True, but the state is likely bigger, older, and meaner. Don't provoke a state; parasitise it.

Meanwhile, pipers and writers and other freelancers can only expect payment if arranged up front. Even then, extreme measures may be needed. I recall the tale of a noted SciFi author dangling a noted SciFi editor by the ankles out a skyscraper window to encourage payment. THERE is a business model!

 

[Voboy]

I always assumed that story was about not trusting itinerant buskers.

Oh well.

 

[jaF0]

Morals? Morals? We don' need no steenking morals!!

 

[Hypoxia]

Morels? Morels? We don' need no steenking morels!!

Fixed for you. Yes you do, if making a kinky queso con hongos dish. Skip the damn portobellos and hallucinogenic amanitas! Dive for morels! I've seen it done, in central Oregon. Trucks bearing MUSHROOMS signs litter the small towns; gypsy, hillbilly, and Latino families fend on fungi. I'm sure there's some pr0n story there. Screwing in the mushroom fields whist bears and state troopers watch, masturbating. It's all downhill from there.

 

[Bramblethorn]

The story seems to have begun with a real event, probably not involving rats, with the moral added in later. Some interesting theories about what actually happened: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_Piper_of_Hamelin