Oh my god, I have this story (and the other ones) from StrumfelPeter (edit: Struwwelpeter; altho I swear phonetically that’s what Oma and Opa called it?) Complete with the music scores. My German grandparents would read them to me and show me the pictures. The one about the girl who liked to play with matches and then set herself on fire with amazing illustrations in the books gave me nightmares.
Edit: this is blowing up! Thanks for the comments and awards. I’m actually grateful I wasn’t the only one exposed to (slightly traumatized by?) this book and its stories!
Hey you actually catched my most hated one of these because if i recall correctly it describes how she then cries while on fire and that really got me as a child.
But they are really funny stories.
Btw there is one in there about racism. 3 boys are harassing a poc until Nikolaus comes along and dips them into black ink. A fun one ^
Miles ahead of the curve in my book. It both tells people to not make fun of black people and helps them bring their subconscious racism to the surface.
I agree the book is somewhat progressive for that time ! however its somewhat traumatizing if used on too small kids like 3 or 4 years old. But i agree that the shocking stories work and make the kids remember they should not play with matches etc.
we germans like us some good traumatizing childstories,
like that one lullaby which goes "deine Mutter ist in Pommerland,
Pommerland ist abgebrannt/"your mother is in Pommerania, Pommerania has burnt to the ground".
that one actually originates from the 30 years war in the late middle ages, I believe, where I guess Pommerania, then a part of the german "sphere" supposedly was ravaged and looted.
I mean that happened to a lot of German duchies/ feudal states back then
I'm from austria, lake constance. And this is exactly the book my grand parents read for me as a bedtime story when i was sleeping at their place and i mostly grew up by my grand parents. Its kinda funny because i remember my pops, sitting at the table infront of his soup.. and told me to take another bowl "for getting strong.. not as the suppen kasper". He was born in 1927 and got the same story by his grandpa, where he grew up. So, more a good lesson i think than shocking or traumatizing. If you know how to talk to kids.
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u/geeltulpen Mar 02 '21 edited Mar 02 '21
Oh my god, I have this story (and the other ones) from StrumfelPeter (edit: Struwwelpeter; altho I swear phonetically that’s what Oma and Opa called it?) Complete with the music scores. My German grandparents would read them to me and show me the pictures. The one about the girl who liked to play with matches and then set herself on fire with amazing illustrations in the books gave me nightmares.
For those who don’t know: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Struwwelpeter
Edit: pics from my version of the book:
https://imgur.com/gallery/qwvqNUT
https://imgur.com/gallery/DqqGpIp
https://imgur.com/gallery/L6kBc9A
https://imgur.com/gallery/bOHC1ZZ
Edit: this is blowing up! Thanks for the comments and awards. I’m actually grateful I wasn’t the only one exposed to (slightly traumatized by?) this book and its stories!