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Struwwelpeter & Co. - Morals or simply Horror Stories for ages 3+ ?

The Struwwelpeter book was written by the German doctor Heinrich Hoffmann in the year 1845. It is supposed to teach children what happens to them if they don't behave well, but in a very drastic and exaggerated way. There are stories, all of them written in merry rhymes, where children starve to death because they don't eat their soup, get their thumb chopped off because they suck it, burn to ashes because they played with fire, etc.
There have been endless discussions about whether this book is good for children because it teaches them rules and morals or bad because it scares them to death. It says on the outside that this book is appropriate for children at the age of 3 and up, on some books it even says from 3-6. At home, we have a paperboard(!) version of "Der Struwwelpeter oder lustige Geschichten und drollige Bilder". I almost don't dare translating this for you and you will soon see, why. It says "The Struwwelpeter or merry stories and funny pictures". "Merry" stories? "Funny" pictures? Oh, sure.
I guess the book can't be too harmful as my mother read it to me when I was a child (same thing with the "scary German fairy tales"), but looking at the stories now, 20 years later, does make me think about the educational value of this book.
Let us take a look at the book which starts with the Struwwelpeter story. By the way, there is the German expression of "looking like a Struwwelpeter" which means that your hair looks messy.
The book starts with a little introduction stating that only well-behaved children who eat their soup and bread, who aren't noisy and who stay with their mother when going for a walk get rewarded.
The next page looks like this:
In rhymes the author talks about the bad boy Struwwelpeter, who didn't let his nails get cut for almost a year and didn't get a haircut either. Consequently, he is unpopular. "Pfui!"
Here you can see the story "Die gar traurige Geschichte mit dem Feuerzeug" (The very sad story of the matches).
The story is about a girl named Paulinchen who is alone at home with her two cats, Minz and Maunz. She looks for something to do and finds matches. Both cats tell her to leave the matches alone and tell her that her father has forbidden her to play with them and that otherwise she will burn to death. Paulinchen doesn't listen and lights one of the matches. She jumps joyfully around the room. Once again, the cats tell her to stop and that also her mother has forbidden her to play with the matches. But, too late, her dress already catches fire and she burns to death. The cats cry out for help, but it is too late. All that can be found is a heap of ashes and her two shoes.
Another story, "Die Geschichte von den schwarzen Buben" (The story of the Black Boys) deals with racism.
In this story, there is a black boy, going for a walk. Three boys names Ludwig, Kaspar and Wilhelm make fun of the black boy, because they think he looks as black as ink. Then Nikolaus comes with a big ink pot. He tells the boys to leave the black boy alone and that it's not his fault he isn't as white as they are. The boys don't stop and make even more fun of the boy than before which leads Nikolaus to get really mad and put all three of them in his big ink pot. On the last page it says that now they are even darker than the black boy and that this wouldn't have happened to them if they had behaved and not made fun of the black boy.
One last story I want to show you is "Die Geschichte vom Suppen-Kaspar" (The Story of the Soup-Kaspar).
It deals with Kaspar, who had always been a healthy boy with fresh, blushed cheeks and a big belly, but who, one day, didn't want to eat his soup anymore. He says: "Ich esse keine Suppe! Nein! Ich esse meine Suppe nicht! Nein, meine Suppe ess' ich nicht!" which means "I'm not eating any soup! No! I'm not eating my soup! No, my soup I won't be eating!" The next day, he is thinner, but he still repeats what he said on the first day. On the third day, when he is even thinner and weaker, he still repeats that he won't be eating his soup. On the fourth day, he is thin as a piece of string and on the fifth day he dies. There is a picture of his grave with a soup pot on top.
Go figure.
For a full version of the Struwwelpeter book in English, click here and scroll down: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12116/12116-h/12116-h.htm









