Allusions in Linguistics
In linguistics pied-piping is the common, informal name for the ability of question words and relative pronouns to drag other words along with them when brought to the front, as part of the phenomenon called Wh-movement. For example, in "For whom are the pictures?", the word "for" is pied-piped by "whom" away from its declarative position ("The pictures are for me"), and in "The mayor, pictures of whom adorn his office walls" both words "pictures of" are pied-piped in front of the relative pronoun, which normally starts the relative clause.
Some researchers believe that the tale has inspired the common English phrase "pay the piper". To "pay the piper" now means to face the inevitable consequences of one's actions, possibly alluding to the story where the villagers broke their promise to pay the Piper for his assistance in ridding the town of the rats.
The phrase is also attributed to meaning to recompense a minstrel or similar musician (such as a piper) in the mediaeval period for services rendered. If a minstrel was not paid for his services by a hosting nobleman, they and future minstrels would not return to that particular nobleman's estate. Minstrels were a significant status symbol, hence refusing payment would be a great mark on the nobleman's reputation and a noticeable loss in his social standing. Hence the phrase may sometimes be heard in reference to a financial transaction. Due to both the Pied Piper's tale, and the growing importance of social occasion over traditional heraldry occurring in the same historical period, it is speculated that both origins resulted in an identical phrase with two separate meanings.
Read more about this topic: Pied Piper Of Hamelin