In some interpretations, the pied piper story is about the black plague

There’s nothing funny about a global pandemic, but it’s human nature to make jokes when things are out of control. For half my adult life, my beloved was a paramedic. I have a son-in-law and several other relatives who are police officers. I’ve several relatives in the armed forces. They all share a black humour that helps them deal with carnage and danger.

Now’s a good time to follow their example, so today I have some links to some history-themed plague humour.

https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/what-shakespeare-actually-did-during-the-plague

https://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/b/bubonic_plague.asp

And, okay, this one is not humour, but why not? You have to laugh, right? https://www.jetsetter.com/magazine/quarantine-memes/

And if you’d like an academic article on humour in the time of cholera, here’s a couple that are very readable:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2996527/

https://www.intellectualtakeout.org/plague-humor-is-good-for-you/

Stay safe, out there, folks. As our Prime Minister keeps saying, Stay kind, Stay patient, Stay safe, Stay strong.

We’ve been here before, folks. Not us, personally, but every person on the planet is the descendent of those who survived a previous pandemic. We can do this.