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Flutes and Death
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This chapter discusses the negative aspect of how flutes and flute players are able to cast musical charms that may lead to death, including the flutists' own deaths. It discusses various theories of magic in order to contextualize some of the narratives. It describes stories such as “The Rat Catcher of Korneuburg”, where the main character charms the rats and magically causes them to follow him while playing his black, wooden transverse flute. After receiving no payment, he charms the children and magically causes them to follow him while playing a golden transverse flute. In other stories, the playing of a flute can sometimes lead to an undesirable end, such as death for the flutist, as in the Bulgarian folktale “The Shepherd and the Samodivi.”
Title: Flutes and Death
Description:
This chapter discusses the negative aspect of how flutes and flute players are able to cast musical charms that may lead to death, including the flutists' own deaths.
It discusses various theories of magic in order to contextualize some of the narratives.
It describes stories such as “The Rat Catcher of Korneuburg”, where the main character charms the rats and magically causes them to follow him while playing his black, wooden transverse flute.
After receiving no payment, he charms the children and magically causes them to follow him while playing a golden transverse flute.
In other stories, the playing of a flute can sometimes lead to an undesirable end, such as death for the flutist, as in the Bulgarian folktale “The Shepherd and the Samodivi.
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