“To what then shall I liken the men of this generation, and to what are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace, and call one to another, who say,
‘We piped to you, and you did not dance,
We wailed, and you did not weep.'
For these Pharisees and lawyers and their ilk are like children sitting and complaining that John and Jesus will not take part in their games. They will not dance to the Pharisaic tune, nor will they enter into the Pharisaic ways of expressing their mourning. One goes too far, the other does not go far enough.
The words may well be taken from a well known children's song, sang at play, as the children sang and danced together, referring to the miming of mourning, and playing at wedding and funerals.