What is the origin and meaning of "pay the piper"?

The expression is really "pay the piper" - no pied in it. The full form is "he who pays the piper calls the tune", from when pipes were used as an accompaniment for dancing, etc. The lord of the castle where the piper was playing did the paying, and chose the tunes.

The Pied Piper legend, as currently popularly known, is based on the Robert Browning poem, while "he who pays the piper calls the tune" goes back long before this. The meaning has nothing to do with consequences, but is to do with choices. A modern version could be "he who rents the flat chooses the curtains."

I prefer to take the simpler explanation - calling the tune. This was a commonplace experience, whereas the Pied Piper was little known in England until Browning. For a different take on the story, see 'The Fried Piper of Hamstring' by Anholt and Robins.

https://www.amazon.com/Fried-Piper-Hamstring-Seriously-Supercrunchies/dp/1841213985

This expression most likely refers to the legend of the Pied Piper of Hamelin, in which a piper abducts all of the children in the village of Hamelin as punishment because they refuse to pay him for catching all their rats. I assume that it means something on the lines of "pay your debts or face the consequences".

"Some researchers believe that the [Pied Piper] tale has inspired the common English phrase "pay the piper", although others disagree. To "pay the piper" 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."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pied_Piper_of_Hamelin#Allusions_in_linguistics

I agree more with this writer:

"In both German and English (and in most European languages for that matter) we find these ambigous connotations of the proverbial expression "to be a pied piper" or the mere title: "Pied Piper." But for the English language there is an additional curiosity that must be looked at, since many people connect the proverbial expression "To pay the piper" with the Pied Piper of the Hamelin legend as well. A check into the standard proverb collections reveals that this is actually a shortened version of such proverbs as "Who pays the piper, calls the tune" (1611), "Those that dance must pay the music" (1638), "He who pays the piper may order the tune" and "He who pays the piper can call the tune," for which 1611 is the earliest reference, but which are probably older."

https://books.google.com/books?id=g-xWCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT91&lpg=PT91

"Paying the piper" means suffering the consequences of your own self-indulgent actions. The most usual accepted origin of this phrase is the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The citizens of Hamelin had a plague of rats and, when the Pied Piper offered to get rid of them for a sum of money, they accepted his offer and then refused to pay, when the rats were gone. To punish them, he then enticed tbeir children away with his music and imprisoned them in a hill forever.

[From yaelf.com 2008 article no longer online]

Alternatively, "he who pays the piper calls the tune", meaning whoever puts up the money gets to make the decisions. http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/He+who+pays+the+piper+calls+the+tune

It has nothing to do with pied pipers.

There is some debate about the exact origin of the phrase and whether "pay the piper" or "who pays the piper calls the tune" came first.

Wiki suggests that "pays the piper" comes "From the English phrase who pays the piper calls the tune."

In other words, to pay up to gain control of something.

Definition:

(idiomatic) To pay expenses for something, and thus be in a position to be in control (i.e. to be able to call the tune).

(idiomatic) To pay a monetary debt or experience unfavorable consequences, especially when the payment or consequences are inevitable in spite of attempts to avoid them. ?

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pay_the_piper


This site suggests that "pay the piper" came first, and that the "calls the tune" part came afterwards. It changes the meaning a bit, but clearly has nothing to do with rats.

"'He who pays the piper calls the tune.' It is interesting to discover how the usage of this proverb has changed.[1] The simple phrase 'pay the piper' predates the longer version by some centuries. It was used simply to mean 'bear the cost', with no reference at all to controlling the piper's playing. "

[1] See further F. P. Wilson, The Oxford Dictionary of English Proverbs, and B. J. Whiting, Modern Proverbs and Proverbial Sayings.

https://vdocuments.site/english-proverbs-and-dictionaries-of-proverbs-1.html