07 June 2008

The Horror #1

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My grandmother was persistent when I was a kid:

1. She always did my eggs runny although I hated it (I still shiver at the mere thought)
2. She kept on reading Struwwelpeter (Pelle Snusk) to me although it scared the s**t out of me (and still kind of does)

Struwwelpeter by Heinrich Hoffman (1809-1894) was written as a children's book and I bet the parents of the mid-1840's thought it was really practical and nice to teach their kids some good ol' morals. What good it was to me I'm much less sure of, I was scared to death by Slovenly Peter and even more by the tailor in The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb:

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"The door flew open, in he ran,
The great, long, red-legged scissorman.
Oh! children, see! the tailor's come
And caught our little Suck-a-Thumb.

Snip! Snap! Snip! the scissors go;
And Conrad cries out - Oh! Oh! Oh!
Snip! Snap! Snip! They go so fast;
That both his thumbs are off at last."


It did not make me quit sucking my thumbs, neither to stop biting my nails.

Read it all here.

Read a new take on the stories here.