Editing Rat (section)

====The Pied Piper====
{{main|Pied Piper of Hamelin}}
One of the oldest and most historic stories about rats is "[[The Pied Piper of Hamelin]]", in which a [[rat-catcher]] leads away an infestation with enchanted music.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The grim truth behind the Pied Piper |last=Kadushin |first=Raphael |website=BBC Travel |date=3 September 2020 |url= https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20200902-the-grim-truth-behind-the-pied-piper}}</ref> The piper is later refused payment, so he in turn leads away the town's children. This tale, traced to [[Germany]] around the late 13th century, has inspired adaptations in film, theatre, literature, and even opera. The subject of much research, some theories have intertwined the tale with events related to the [[Black Plague]], in which [[black rat]]s played an important role. Fictional works based on the tale that focus heavily on the rat aspect include Pratchett's ''[[The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents]]'', and Belgian graphic novel ''{{ill|Le Bal du Rat Mort|fr}}'' (''The Ball of the Dead Rat''). Furthermore, a linguistic phenomenon when a wh-expression drags with it an entire encompassing phrase to the front of the clause has been named [[pied-piping]] after "Pied Piper of Hamlin" (see also [[pied-piping with inversion]]).