Trans Men/Mascs in Storytelling, Part One (6) Living in the Margins

 

“They hadn’t kissed yet or anything, but the way he looked at Elfie, the little stolen glances, the casual brushes of his fingers against theirs–it was just a matter of time. How could they explain this to Ma?” - The Witch’s Flute, a Trans Pied Piper Retelling by Dani Finn (2025)

The immortality of folk tales is that we can retell them in any time, in any culture, and they still retain a truth about the human condition–they are truly universal. The Witch’s Flute by Dani Finn (they/them) is a retelling of The Pied Piper with a transfeminine Pied Piper who leads the other trans people out of a bigoted village and to a commune where they live peacefully. In the margins of this story, there is a transmasculine character who exists amidst the story, not in a particularly significant role, but in the eleventh hour is the love interest for our nonbinary protagonist.

Rhett is a baker who our main character, Elfie, remembers and misses for his salt crusted bread. He makes his on page appearance when Ina (our transfeminine Pied Piper) leads the switchies (the term the villagers use to refer to trans people) into the market to sell their goods before returning to her ranch. Elfie interacts with him briefly while purchasing bread, the scene focuses on Elfie and Ina’s conversation. It is implied the baker is lightly flirting with Elfie as they leave the square, following Ina’s music and dancing. In the conclusion we learn his name is Rhett and that he and Elfie are starting to become romantic.

A core theme of the original Pied Piper is the mayor refusing to pay the piper for his work in ridding the town of rats, the piper then swears revenge, which the mayor mocks him for:

“‘How?’ cried the Mayor, ‘d’ ye think I brook Being worse treated than a Cook? Insulted by a lazy ribald With idle pipe and vesture piebald? You threaten us, fellow? Do your worst, Blow your pipe there till you burst!’” - The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning, illustrated by Kate Greenaway (1842) ( https://www.gutenberg.org/files/18343/18343-h/18343-h.htm )

That is emulated in Finn’s retelling. The village, namely a character named Shet, overrules an agreement they made to be able to sell goods in the market as a means to kick them out and stop them from returning. The sentiment towards Ina is that she should “lead the rest of the freaks out of the village”. Our protagonist self realises as nonbinary throughout witnessing the treatment of other trans people, and reflecting on the masculinity forced onto them, and how they do not connect to it. Their home life is bordering on abusive, if not already so, but there is a slight redemption arc where their father is accepting of them at the end.

The core theme of this story is community, this “we take care of us” idea of how trans people care for other trans people. In this sense, the inclusion of Rhett is integral. Upon my initial reading I was unsure of how to feel, he could be cut out and the plot wouldn’t change, but the sense of trans community wouldn’t be the same. He exists to show in world solidarity between transfeminine, nonbinary and transmasculine people–a theme that ties to Ina’s personal mission, and to how this particular folk tale has survived throughout the ages.

The Pied Piper originates from Germany in the middle ages. There is speculation that it may be a mythologized retelling of a real tragedy, but we do not have enough facts to know. In Finn’s Witch’s Flute, it is re-imagined as a story of trans solidarity in a setting that reads to me as middle ages Ireland.

The core of the folk tale is so simple. The Pied Piper rids the village of vermin, the mayor spurns and mocks him, he takes his revenge by stealing their children. Due to this, it is easy for an author to re-imagine these themes and place the story in any setting. From an article by Raphael Kadushin (he/him):

“If the tale suggests a possible historical tragedy, though, it also offers an artistic redemption as well.

“‘The Pied Piper story,’ said Reimer, preparing for the debut of her exhibit on 26 June, ‘is to our knowledge known in at least 42 countries and 30 languages, maybe more. And it appears in international art, literature and music. The Pied Piper is a shared heritage of many people, and that cultural heritage connects people.’

Ultimately, then, the Piper didn’t just fracture a community. He also, in the end, brought a larger one together.” - Raphael Kadushin, The Grim Truth Behind the Pied Piper (2020) ( https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20200902-the-grim-truth-behind-the-pied-piper )

I certainly see the irony of the village in Finn’s work viewing the trans people as little more than vermin, paralleling the original story, except with a much more uplifting outcome than what in the original read to me as a potentially xenophobic portrayal of a Romani man stealing away German children.

The character of Rhett plays into a couple character tropes that I would like to observe, as we will see them again. He is a man in a very domestic sense, he is at the service of the other characters, we know little about him (only that he is a skilled baker, which is notably domestic labour), and his inclusion revolves around him being a romantic interest at the tail end of the story. He is written classically in the same role as women who play love interests are, except that because he is a man it “should be refreshing”. This is a trope that I don’t have a simple name for, but have seen in multiple portrayals of transmasculine characters, that they inherently are there for the service of other characters and don’t exist in the story outside of that.

While certainly an unconscious trend, it is interesting to me that trans men are seen as an acceptable bearer of the often criticized tropes for women, flipping the trope to be on a man is refreshing and often allows us to understand why that trope is harmful in the writing of women. Trans men are an odd target for it, on paper, it seems as though it should serve the same purpose as it does when used on cis men, but it reads as different– as if he were to “stay a woman” the trope would read poorer. The other implication of this writing trend is the tendency to write trans men as examples of positive masculinity, which on paper is good! In practice, it can lead to portrayals where a trans man is not allowed to have any emotionality, any anger, he must be demure, friendly, helpful, and little else so as not to be a “toxic man”.

I like Rhett, as generally at this point in my ranking, I am talking about books and stories I deeply appreciate. I see Rhett as part of what made this Pied Piper retelling truly read as inclusive broadly across trans identities, but I want Rhett to be a spark towards more stories that feature a broad scope of trans characters where all of them can shine.

The margins of a story are still the story, and we must celebrate inclusivity regardless of the stage it is in. In my practice with reading, planning, and writing these pieces on media analysis and theory, I have intentionally sought out diversity from a range of trans authors. I have been asked why I didn’t focus solely on transmasculine authors, the reason is simple: because this isn’t just for us, it’s for all of my trans readers.

By branching out and paying little heed to the gender of the author, I will encounter and read and dissect stories that centre transfeminine and nonbinary characters and voices. This is deeply important to me as I am against this wave of trans theory that I can only describe as “splintering the trans community”. I am more than capable of reading and dissecting stories across the broad spectrum of trans experiences, even for this project, as transmasculine characters can appear in a broad range of stories. In doing so, I hope to drive readership and understanding more broadly across trans stories.

Much like Ina’s inclusiveness of providing a place for all kinds of trans people to live, I believe that a project like this must encompass all kinds of trans authors. The censorship of trans art affects the average trans person’s access to this canon, to experiencing all of these stories for themselves. In order to foster true community, we need to create space for all of our stories to be seen, this is only my small efforts in building towards that.

I connect to Rhett’s domestic role, for what am I if I’m not of assistance to other people? This feeling however, it also reminds me of a concern I have for other transmasculine people, that if you’re reading this, you may feel as though you must be a helpful “non toxic” man. And while helping your community is a good thing, I hope you also understand that you deserve to be selfish too. I hope every Rhett, every kind trans man in the margin of someone else’s story, has the space to be selfish, and eventually, tell his own story.