Who says Germans don’t have a sense of humor
I never realized that this would shape my childhood so hard and be from the 19th century. God, my childhood was so nice and without Smartphones ☺️
Man… This one has lived rent free in my mind for almost thirty years. I had to read this and other German tales in German class.
Classic fairy tales were horror shows meant to teach important life lessons for their times. They say a lot about the cultures that told them. Like just how insanely many are about teaching women about the importance of being a “good wife” or marrying up the socio-economic ladder. At least the rest of them are about why you shouldn’t trust hobos living under bridges or some shit.
There’s nuance to this.
Fairy tales, as we know them, are a fairly recent (18th century) invention. The traditional European folktales they were based off of, didn’t include morals, weren’t aimed at children, nor were they intended to be used as teaching tools. More likely, they were stories to be told around campfires or at hearths while sewing, weaving or whatever, and mostly were told amongst adults to amuse each other. Thus the very mature topics and dark humor tone of many traditional tales, specially those that didn’t include children or animal characters.
Stories with morals where usually of the tradition of Aesop’s fables, and more common on academic or philosophy circles as study material. It was Perrault and Grimm’s innovation, popularizing these folk stories by adapting them and mixing in a fable structure and aiming the stories to an audience of the high class, first the high royal courts, then the Victorian aristocracy. This audience were the one’s who emphasized moral rectitude and using the folk stories as teaching aids for children.
Then the 20th century saw the commercialization of fairy tales as stories aimed at children through the rise of bedtime stories literature and Disney’s animated film tradition.
Buddy, read better fairytales, damn.
The ones I grew up with emphasized the power of sorceress’, and made the “hobos under the bridge” just people, as they are.
My parents never read them to the end.
I wonder why.
I just woke up and had this post open on my phone, what happe…zZZ zZz
The book is called Struwwelpeter and it is from 1844. The stories are intended for children and are all cautionary tales about how bad behaviour can have disastrous consequences. I loved them as a child and I probably could recite the whole book from memory. There is an English translation available at Project Gutenberg.
Why would I not eat my soup? I don’t need a cautionary tale about that.
And they were not intended as good-night-stories.
Asshole boy abuses animals and gets bitten by a dog. Gute Nacht.
Little girl is alone at home, plays with a box of matches despite her mother telling her she can’t and burns to a pile of ashes. Gute Nacht.
Boys are racist towards a black guy and in turn get drowned in a barrel filled with black ink. Gute Nacht.
All these stories were written by a psychiatrist btw. The “now he has no thumbs” one from Family Guy too.
Little girl is alone at home, plays with a box of matches despite her mother telling her she can’t and burns to a pile of ashes. Gute Nacht.
And then Rammstein make a badass song about her.
Boys are racist towards a black guy and in turn get drowned in a barrel filled with black ink. Gute Nacht.
I remember it as him having to be black like the kids that he mocked as his punishment. (Essentially, “think about how you would feel being as black as them.”)
He was also dunked into the inkwell by a giant St. Nicholas, of course.
Max und Moritz…2 boys commit 7 pranks, got murdered and fed to the ducks, good night.
And a meat company has been named after them in my country lol
Is that M&M?
They are based on a true story.
Some nursery rhymes:
Bet’, Kindchen, bet’. Morgen kommt der Schwed’.
(Pray, child, pray, tomorrow the Swede will come [from the 30 year war])
and
Eya popeya popole, Unser Herrgottche wird dich bald hole, Kömmt er mit dem gulderne Lädche, Legt dich hinunter ins Gräbche: Über mich, Über dich, Kummer mitnander ins Himmelrich!
(Eya popeya popole, Our Lord God will soon come for you, He comes with the golden cart, Lays you down in the little grave: Over me, Over you, Together we’ll go into the Kingdom of Heaven!)
Lullabies that are pretty grim seem to be a thing in a lot of cultures. I read an article from the university of Oslo about that recently.
The Icelanders can beat that; a traditional Icelandic lullaby translates as “sleep, you black-eyed pig, and fall into a deep pit full of ghosts”
I remember that German lullaby which goes
“Tomorrow, if god allows it, you will awake again.”
Way to give me existential dread as a child 😂 Like, this god guy could kill me in my sleep, or what?
As a father of two, I get the sentiment 🤷♂️
Vikings living up to their reputation. 😁
My father taught me that song as a kid:
Warte, warte nur ein Weilchen, bald kommt Haarmann auch zu dir, mit dem kleinen Hackebeilchen, macht er Schabefleisch aus dir.
But since he went to an English school, he also taught me English songs and nursery rhymes and I am having so much fun at therapy.
In case anybody is wondering.
holy shit
Even English “nursery rhymes” are passively threatening and morbid when you think about it.
Half of them are coded sedition against the king at the time.
Learn your rules…
“Once there was a king’s son who went out into the field and was thoughtful and sad. He looked at the sky, it was so nice and blue, when he sighed and said “How well you have to be up there in heaven!” Then he saw a poor old man who came up with the way, talked to him and asked “How can I get to heaven?” The man replied “through poverty and humility. Leap to my torn clothes, hike in the world for seven years and get to know her misery: Do not take any money, but if you hunger, ask comprehensive hearts for a piece of bread, you will approach heaven.” Then the king’s son pulled out his magnificent skirt and hung up the beggar robe, went out into the wide world and tolerated great misery. He took nothing but a little eating, said nothing, but prayed to the Lord that he wanted to take him into his sky. When the seven years were around, he came back to his father, but nobody recognized him. He spoke to the servants “and tell my parents that I came back.” But the servants didn’t believe it, laughed and let him stand. Then he said “and tell my brothers that they come down, I would like to see them again.” They also did not want to finally have one of them and told the royal children, but they didn’t believe it and did not take care of it. Then he wrote a letter to his mother and described her all of his misery in it, but he didn’t say that he was her son. Then the queen let him have a place under the staircase and bring him to eat through two servants every day. But one was evil and said “what should the beggar eat the good!” Keep it to himself or did the dogs only gave the weak, dismantled water; But the other was honest and brought him what he got for him. It was little, but he could live on it for a while; He was very patient until he became weaker and weaker. But as his illness increased, he sought to receive the Holy Lord’s Supper. As it is under half the fair, all bells in the city and the area start to ring. After the fair, the clergyman goes to the poor man under the stairs, so he is dead, in one hand a rose, in the other a lily, and a paper next to him, his story is written on. When he was buried, a rose grew on one side of the grave, on the other a lily out.”
These anti-jokes are rough
The ending is all the funnier for it. Well and teaches you what not to do.
Normal German bedtime story
