The Pied Piper in Pudding Lane

The Pied Piper in Pudding Lane

being the truth about the Pied Piper, as Santa, oldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Claus, discovered it before ever he left Pudding lane

written by Sarah Addington, illustrated by Gertrude Alice Kay

This book is the second in a series about Pudding Lane, starting with The boy who lived in Pudding Lane.

It features the same characters: family Claus, Mother Goose, old King Cole, and characters from children's poems.

Again, Santa is in a leading role.

There are only four colored pictures (except for the endpaper and cover) in the book. All of them, just like the vignettes, are signed by Gertrude Alice Kay.

Just like other books in the series it was published by The Atlantic Press, Boston. It was printed in 1923.

The preface informs us about the episode with a Pied Piper in the first book. Santa saved the kids from his hypnotic melody but we don't know what happened to the piper and, of course, the children from Hamelin. This is just one of the flops by the author, who later portrays the Pied Piper in a totally different light which is contradictory to his actions in Pudding Lane before.

There are 17 chapters in the book altogether.

The girl who accompanies Santa in this adventure is not the same one he married at the end of the previous book. Her name is Judy and she lives with other children in the old Shoe.

The story starts with an enraged King Cole who wants to find the Pied Piper who lured kids out of Hamelin. Well, he won't look for the rogue himself. Instead, he demands all the men in the kingdom to chase the Pied Piper. Mr. Claus is included.

In the meantime, Santa plays with children at Old Woman who lives in a shoe. She is quite a character always providing a new shoe when the previous one becomes too shabby and regularly spanking all the kids before putting them to bed.

Then Mother Goose comes to visit. A few beggars come by as well.

The search party is a failure. They didn't find a trace of the Pied Piper. It seems they shall continue looking for him until he is caught or old King Cole forgets about him.

Mother Goose decides to check the surroundings. Santa and Judy accompany her.

Mother Goose's gander suddenly becomes very excited and leads all three into the woods. There he is - Pied Piper himself.

But he looks different as they expected. He is nice and worried. He needs help.

Pied Piper explains that he just joked about taking the children from the people of Hamelin. He wants to return them but they don't want to leave his Cave of Delighht where they can play all day and even through the night because nobody forces them to go to sleep.

The Cave of Delight is a very special place where you can build castles in the air and you don't have to wash yourself. This proved to be a perfect place for children and beggars.

They decide to check it. But just Judy and Santa can enter because Mother Goose and her gander don't belong among kids or beggars.

Santa and Judy are enchanted. Cave of Delight is an astonishing place. It's full of light because there are candles lit on both sides. And sometimes, not too often, literally rains cats and dogs. The boy and the girl immediately get a puppy and a kitten.

They see a lot of cases full of children, beggars, and other lonely people. There are a lot of orphans who particularly enjoy the Cave of Delight, where so many wishes can be fulfilled. They all wish for mothers and most of them have more than one.

Santa and Judy learn they can fly here!

They truly enjoy exploring the place, but the time to return to the Mother Goose who is waiting for them is coming. Pied Piper just wants to offer them some milk, the main food in his cave. It comes out of the fountain which is unfortunately almost empty. Pied Piper admits that this has happened quite often recently.

He explains the milk only comes out if someone does a good deed, and it seems people do that less and less. He is worried. How will he feed the orphans?

The quantity of milk in the fountain is low. Judy and Santa are hungry but their kitten and puppy are hungry too. They decide to give the milk to the little ones and satisfy their own hunger later.

But then new milk appears. Piep Piper explains that this milk is a result of their good deeds. Now they can enjoy it too.

Santa and Judy return home. They tell what they know about the Piper and his Cave of Delight, where children of Hamelin enjoy so much they won't go home.

Santa's granny, Mother Goose, instructs him to inform King Cole. Pied Piper should not be hanged! He is a good guy after all.

So Santa goes to the king's castle and King Cole listens to him. He is a bit less worried but insists on returning children to their mothers.

Santa has no idea how to do that. Nobody has anything useful on his or her mind.

The boy goes to the Old Woman who lives in a shoe to see Judy. She is not there. On his way, Santa realizes he can still do something useful. The fountain in the Cave of Delight needs a source of milk and his good deeds can help.

Judy probably already does that.

Both children spend the next hours doing as much good as possible. Then something shocking happens. Everybody in Pudding Lane notices the same.

A large wave is coming. It looks strange. Not like water but more like ... Like milk!

Good deeds done by Judy and Santa not only filled the fountains in the Piper's cave, it overloaded it so much that a tsunami-like wave formed.

It rises high and it brings children of Hamelin with it!

The wave goes near Pudding Lane, close enough to see the kids and the piper who is waving to the spectators, but not too close. It takes the kids of Hamelin to their families.

People are now convinced that Pied Piper is a good guy and they don't try to catch him anymore.

Old King Cole pardoned him and everybody was happy.

This story is an interesting mixture of plots, characters, and references from different sources. Although not so full of suspense and with several too educative parts, it shows us how we can totally misjudge somebody when we are limited to one perspective only. Pied Piper of Hameln, one of the most eerie characters in the literature (not only for kids!) is presented as a kind person who devoted his life to the welfare of orphans and beggars.

It also invites us to explore more from the fields of literature for children. Here are a few examples:

- a much darker version of Pied Piper of Hamelin,
- Land of Milk and Honey which inspired the Cave of Delight,
- Pinocchio with a much more critical presentation of its Land of Planty (to be added later).

Enjoy the ride and tell your friends!