In a recent post on Peter Klopp’s blog, I was reminded of the book I’ve treasured since I was a small child. I still have that book which my family brought to Canada from Germany in 1953, and about 50 years ago I managed to buy a newer copy of it in Vancouver. The old one is on the right, and the new one on the left.
They are almost identical, but in the new one, these first two pages (below) do not appear.
The poem on the left is about the expectations of how children should behave:
Eat your soup.
Don’t forget to eat the bread too.
Play with your toys without making too much noise.
Take Mama’s hand when you’re out with her for a walk.
And if you do all these things, the Christkind (the being who delivers gifts at Christmas) will bring you some nice presents, and a very pretty picture book.
My mother often read this to me when I was very little, and encouraged me to say the words with her. The last line was always, “But we don’t tear it.”
It was years before I realized that the last line was not part of the poem. She had just added it as if it belonged there, and I repeated it, thinking it did.
On the second page was a picture of a child (Peter) whose hair was all “struwwelig” – officially “strubbelig” I think (messy, to say the least), and his fingernails were dirty and long. This boy never allowed his Mama to comb his hair or cut his nails, and he was a horrible boy (not what any good child would want to be). He was called Struwwelpeter (messy or slovenly Peter).
NOW things get more controversial. The stories (in rhyme) which follow are now considered harsh and brutal and not fit for children to be exposed to, and there are many adults who believe they should be banned.
But in spite of the shocking way the lessons in childhood behaviour are presented, I want to say that although the stories had my full attention at a young age, they did not give me nightmares or upset me. I grew up in a loving home and when my mother read these stories to me, she assured me that I was safe with her and that the awful things in the stories only happened to very bad people.
Meanwhile, I loved the cadence of the words and the rhymes and the often justified (at some level) endings.
Here is the story of Friederich, who was a very cruel boy. He tore the wings off flies and was mean to animals and to his sister. A dog getting a drink from the fountain looked like an easy target. Friederich sneaked up on him and hit him with his whip. The dog cried and howled, but then he’d had enough. He bit Friederich’s leg and ran off with his whip.
Now comes the part that I liked. Friederich had to go to bed. The doctor was called and Friederich had to take some medicine that was very bitter. (YES!)
Meanwhile, the dog ate Friederich’s supper of liver sausage, and he even had a drink of wine (not so sure if that was good for either dog or boy). He had brought the whip with him and kept a close eye on it.
This next story about little Pauline was very, very sad. It brought out every bit of empathy I had in my small child’s body. Thinking back, I remember this story so well because the poor little girl ended up burning up.
Much later, as an adult I thought, “If only a certain little boy I knew (in real life), had been told this story, maybe he would not have done exactly what Pauline did.” Luckily, he only burned down the family home and not himself or his family.
The beautiful thing about this story/poem is the rhyme. The repeated refrain that tells the warning from the cats, Minz and Maunz, really hits home. 70 years later, I still know who Minz and Maunz are.
Pauline had been told not to play with matches but the temptation was so great, she had to do it anyway. The cats warned her again and again, but she wouldn’t listen to them. At the end of the story, you can see how upset the cats are. If only Pauline had listened to her parents. I was impressed as a child, that all that was left of Pauline was a pair of red shoes.
Kaspar is one guy I didn’t feel sorry for. All he had to do was eat his soup. But no! He had tantrums (another no-no) and refused to eat his soup every day even though he got thinner and thinner.
I see that his Mama must have missed him and loved him a lot because even beyond the grave she was still trying to get him to eat his soup. See the bowl on his grave?
This one about Philipp who misbehaved at the table left me cold. I didn’t feel sorry for Philipp. He got what he deserved. But Philipp’s Mama, in every verse, did the same stupid thing. She put her handheld spectacles to her eye and looked around the table wordlessly. The Papa, on the other hand, did a lot of admonishing, but he also got no respect from me. He let his son ignore him. And see in the picture – look how he is holding the knife!
Well, Mama and Papa may have been ineffectual parents, but natural consequences taught them all a lesson and none of them got any supper that night.
I have to add one little anecdote. Whenever my mother made Jell-o at home, she called it Zappel-Philipp. For years I thought that’s what it was really called, but she only called it that because Philipp from the story “zappelled” (fidgeted and rocked around) just like the Jell-o did. Unless Jell-o is really called that and I don’t know it.
The last story is one that upsets a lot of people because the tailor comes with his huge shears and cuts off Conrad’s thumbs.
But hey! His Mama told him not to suck them. She told him what would happen if he did.
Okay, I’m just kidding. It is a bit brutal, but again, I did not have nightmares or even take the story seriously. You’d have to be pretty stupid to believe that this would really happen. Unfortunately there are many people who would ban the whole book for being too real and brutal and upsetting for children.
The truth is, I loved these stories. I loved the rhyme and the cadence and the funny pictures. This story has stayed in my head all the years of my life since pre-school, and I still love how it starts with,
“Conrad, sprach die Frau Mama,
Ich geh aus und du bleibst da.”
(Conrad, said his Mama,
I’m going out and you’re staying here.)
It’s such a catchy little rhyme. And then after she tells him to be good and not suck his thumbs or the tailor will come with the big shears and cut them off, he can hardly wait until the door closes. I love the word that tells how he puts his thumb in his mouth – WUPP!
And then the sound of the tailor coming in the door. BAUZ! (pronounced like BOWTS).
There are more stories in the Struwwelpeter book, but this post is already quite long so I’ll leave you with a couple of thoughts.
Before you say how horrible these stories are, consider that it makes a difference how they are presented. I agree that I would not raise children using these stories as examples nowadays.
But I also feel that we don’t need a witch hunt to eradicate every book we don’t agree with, and those who consider themselves holier-than-the-rest-of-us don’t have a right to deprive everyone of the opportunity to see what went on in our history. It is not their right to erase our past – good or bad. We can learn from it either way.
January 28, 2022 at 4:47 pm
Grimm’s Fairy Tales were my bread and butter, along with some troll stories from my Swedish grandmother that would make your hair curl. Such stories are ways for children to experience, recognize, and deal with fears. I always heard the stories in a loving environment, and that made all the difference. Just today I heard a very interesting presentation on the damage being done to today’s children by NOT allowing them to fail, experience fear, or learn to solve problems for themselves. It’s not a marshmallow world, and learning to deal with it step by step is so important.
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January 28, 2022 at 6:12 pm
This is such a sensible approach, Linda. Thank you for the input.
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January 28, 2022 at 5:06 pm
This was amazing to read, Anneli, and I agree that those who believe that they are holier need to just shut up. Do you speak German?
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January 28, 2022 at 6:15 pm
Yes, my mom made sure we kept our language at home, but I wouldn’t be able to speak the kind of German needed in business. It’s good enough for getting by though. I was six when we left Germany. A LONG time ago.
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January 28, 2022 at 6:46 pm
I see, so you have dual citizenship! Cool.
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January 28, 2022 at 7:07 pm
No, we kept up our language at home but we learned English as fast as we could, and became Canadian citizens as soon as we could (when I was 12, I think). Never regretted it.
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January 29, 2022 at 9:21 am
Oh Canada, I’ll stand on guard for thee! I love your country… 🇨🇦❤️
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January 29, 2022 at 10:08 am
So do I. I just hope it doesn’t get ruined (in much the same way the US is being ruined just now). Let’s hope it’s not permanent.
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January 28, 2022 at 5:20 pm
Who knows if that way or the new way is better. Or worse. I sure don’t think adults know! I bet kids raised with that book were just as happy as kids raised with “I have two mommies”. Sigh. I remembered girlfriends telling me I was too strict with my kids. Now, they love me, love family, love their country, work hard. What more could I want?
But I digress. Interesting book, Anneli. Thank you for sharing.
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January 28, 2022 at 6:17 pm
I think it’s all about how it’s done. As for being strict, my parents were strict but kind too. At least I knew what the rules were, and that was always reassuring.
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January 29, 2022 at 6:44 am
My son even said something along those lines. When he got his first job working at a place called Chuck E Cheese, he worked evenings. It was close to home, but I’d go pick him up. He told me the kids he worked with–no one cared where they were or when they came home. He realized it meant a lot to him that his parents cared.
That’s the kindness, innit? I bet we raised our kids very similarly.
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January 29, 2022 at 10:27 am
That kindness will never be forgotten.
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January 28, 2022 at 6:42 pm
You did a fantastic job with your children, Jacqui! They are true patriots. Thank you!
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January 28, 2022 at 6:57 pm
I agree with Jill.
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January 29, 2022 at 6:45 am
I bet you do, too, Jill. Life is scary. That book doesn’t hide kids from it. It makes them aware.
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January 29, 2022 at 10:27 am
It’s funny, how I feel about this book. I’m not at all a violent person. I consider myself well adjusted, and I don’t have nightmares about the stories in Struwwelpeter. The stories are awful, but I love them somehow. Well, that’s not so strange, now that I think of it. People watch crime shows on TV all the time and they love them.
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January 28, 2022 at 6:13 pm
Love it!
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
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January 28, 2022 at 6:15 pm
Thanks so much, Gina.
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January 28, 2022 at 6:43 pm
I enjoyed reading this, Anneli. Thanks for sharing!
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January 29, 2022 at 12:05 am
I had this book too when I was a small child. It impressed me a lot and tried hard to be a good girl. Unfortunately I don´t have this book anymore. Thanks for sharing!
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January 29, 2022 at 10:36 am
It was almost like a Bible for kids, wasn’t it? Well, you may not have the book anymore but I’m glad to hear that it helped you to be a good girl.
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January 29, 2022 at 12:47 am
Lovely I too made sure that my girls speak Portuguese not perfect I might add but enough to get by. Now we are trying to get granddaughter to learn.
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January 29, 2022 at 10:34 am
Good for you, Ana. I remember that my brother and sisters and I grumbled about having to speak German around home, and whenever my mom was out of sight, we switched to English, but I’m so glad she insisted that we try to keep our language. It has turned into a valuable tool over the years. So keep up the good work. The kids and grandkids will thank you for it forever.
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January 30, 2022 at 1:50 am
Yes. My girls did the same even now they always speak in English. But if they go to the old country they are able get by.
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January 29, 2022 at 3:04 am
I read “Struwel Peter” to my granddaughter with great pleasure because it is a book that my grandmother read to me. German fairy tales are a major cultural asset in our history. Should we now take all German fairy tale books off the market because some parents believe that their children could be harmed as a result? It also sounds bad when the wolf ate Little Red Riding Hood and the grandmother or when the stepmother poisoned her own child with an apple. If our children, whom we want to teach at least three languages by the age of four, shouldn’t recognize at a very early age what reality and history are.
At least my granddaughter says my mom would never cut off my thumb. That’s just a story.
I wish you a nice weekend.
Werner the bird clipper
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January 29, 2022 at 10:31 am
Werner, thank you so much. I love your comment!
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January 29, 2022 at 3:47 am
Dear Anneli
The “Struwwelpeter” was one of the first books I really liked. The stories are cruel like the Paulinchen-story but, as you write, it’s important how they are presented. Dr H. Hoffmann was a psychiatrist at the end of the 19th c. and on one hand he represents the zeitgeist nevertheless he also created with this book an outlet for childish aggression. Like all my friends I liked the struwwulpeter-stories when I was a child. – The “Struwwelpeter” is a German cultural asset and fortunately culture isn’t as one-dimensional as its critics would like it to be. Actually, what these critics are advocating is to fill our child with kitsch and thus to dumb them down. This is child abuse, isn’t it?
Thanks and cheers
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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January 29, 2022 at 6:47 am
You are so right, Klausbernd. How will kids be ready for what is really a difficult world?
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January 29, 2022 at 10:24 am
Agree!
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January 29, 2022 at 3:20 pm
Thanks a lot for your input, KB. I value your opinion and I’m so glad to hear that you liked this book, as I did.
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January 30, 2022 at 2:39 am
We especially like the pictures.
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January 30, 2022 at 8:45 am
They’re unique, aren’t they?!
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January 29, 2022 at 7:13 am
You made me remember these stories, horribly stories and not for children nowadays, but then they were only for children’s best to teach them. I think they worked, because we still remember them, in good and bad. Struwwelpeter has a Finnish name Jöröjukka.
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January 29, 2022 at 10:23 am
You’re so right, Kristiina. They are cruel stories, but as I pointed out, it depends on how they are presented – and the poetic quality of the stories is beautiful. Definitely there are better ways to teach these things, but they reflect the custom of fairy tales, as Werner mentioned in his comment. No one thinks it’s good to poison Snow White with an apple, or shove the witch into the oven and fatten up Hansel to eat him. It is fantasy. Possibly disturbing, if we take it too seriously. But look at the video games kids play today where they shoot as many people as they can. Some of them (not many, thank god) go out and act on these videos. But I haven’t heard of anyone pushing old ladies into an oven or eating children. There are two sides to all of these stories, and if we don’t belabour them, they can still be told as some small part of history.
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January 29, 2022 at 7:15 am
Dear Anneli, I feel humbled and honoured that my post prompted you to write a photo essay on your thoughts and feelings about Struwwelpeter. You indeed have a way with words. My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post.
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January 29, 2022 at 10:10 am
I’m very happy to hear that, Peter. Thanks for giving me the reminder that I have this book.
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January 29, 2022 at 7:17 am
Reblogged this on The Peter and Gertrud Klopp Family Project and commented:
More thoughts on Struwwelpeter by Anneli
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January 29, 2022 at 10:09 am
Thanks so much for your kind words and for the reblog, Peter.
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January 29, 2022 at 11:12 am
For some strange reasons, the reblog did not work.
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January 29, 2022 at 11:24 am
It could be that I didn’t click on Approve soon enough. If you tried again, I would click on it right away.
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January 29, 2022 at 9:20 am
Lovely lovely Anneli, lots to ponder along with the memories of nightly story time. Life is difficult, thank gosh we had the freedom to learn from our own experiences. Life is full of possibilities when we try, we accomplish or we learn from the mistake.
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January 29, 2022 at 10:37 am
Actually, these were stories that my mom read to us during the day. It might have been too scary to hear them at night. But I did love hearing them.
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January 29, 2022 at 2:22 pm
Kids love fairy tales, and have been read to them for ages. That must say something!
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January 29, 2022 at 3:18 pm
It does. Thanks, Belinda.
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January 29, 2022 at 5:15 pm
Anneli, these are the stories from our parents, and we heard them as we grew up. Noone ever had nightmares or a problem. The brother Grimms’ fairy tales are far worse, and they still remain popular today. Have you ever read the original Cinderella? When the birds pecked out the eyeballs of the evil stepsisters…that was harsh. I am a staunch believer in not banning books. So many that have been banned, like Charlotte’s Web, are great literature. Thank you for sharing these books!
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January 29, 2022 at 6:22 pm
Are you kidding me? Charlotte’s Web, banned? What could they possibly have to complain about? Maybe they thought that if Fern talked to the animals and thought they were talking to her too, she might go a bit cuckoo. Good heavens! What next?
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January 30, 2022 at 6:16 am
Talking animals seemed to be taboo. Isn’t that ridiculous?
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January 30, 2022 at 8:47 am
That’s so crazy. What about kids who have conversations with their dolls or imaginary friends? They’re just being creative. Most of them won’t be doing that anymore when they’re adolescents. All this censorship is stifling. I don’t like it.
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January 30, 2022 at 11:08 am
I don’t like it one bit, either.
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January 31, 2022 at 10:16 am
LOVE THIS WONDERFUL EXHIBIT OF THE BOOK. I wrote an essay for an academic text years ago showing the “nursery rhyme” origins of Sylvia plath’s poetry. This is what I wrote about that last story:
“another tale within the book. “The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb,” about thumb-sucking Konrad, is well-known for its cavalier horror. Konrad’s mother warns him to stop sucking his thumbs, but he can’t help himself. When Mother leaves the house, Konrad sucks his thumbs. A tailor snips off Konrad’s thumbs with an over-sized scissors.
What looks like quite a leap in “Cut” from an injured thumb to the self-humiliating cry of “dirty girl” could be in fact the disgorgement of a childhood reading of Struwwelpeter.”
Lots of Americans have read Sylvia Plath’s poems, but have no clue about Struwwelpeter stories!
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January 31, 2022 at 11:35 am
I have read very little of Sylvia Plath’s writing. What I did read, seemed very dark and I chose not to add clouds to my day. But I can certainly see her writing darker versions of nursery rhymes. It’s funny that you say many Americans have no clue about Struwwelpeter. In Europe, he is quite well known. I guess he didn’t come across the pond with many pioneers (as he did with us), and America has its own stories.
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January 31, 2022 at 12:31 pm
Isn’t that funny that Struwwelpeter didn’t, but the Grimm stories did? I mean, “The Juniper Tree” is certainly more horrific!!! That’s the one where the stepmother slams the chest lid on the kid, beheading him, and then feeding him to the father.
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January 31, 2022 at 2:46 pm
OMG! I don’t know that one. It might make a good adult horror movie.
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February 1, 2022 at 5:46 pm
It’s burned into my head. I remember reading it in my bedroom.
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February 1, 2022 at 7:46 pm
Shudders!
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January 31, 2022 at 1:49 pm
Thanks for sharing this Anneli. I love how wrote this. Anita
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January 31, 2022 at 2:45 pm
Thanks, Anita. I liked these stories a lot when I was little.
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February 1, 2022 at 7:54 am
Oh my goodness, what a treasure this is! And I agree with you — no need to BAN books. Just… don’t read them, if you don’t like the message. Or, better yet, TALK about why you don’t like the message. Plus, I think most fairy tales are pretty brutal. This post caught my eye because Dwight Shrute on The Office talks about Struwwelpeter in one episode! I love that it’s a real collection of stories!
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February 1, 2022 at 10:17 am
Yes, we agree on the banning issue. This morning when I woke up, the first thing that popped into my head was a verse from Jabberwocky.
“One two! One two! And through and through,
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack,
He left it dead, and with it’s head,
He went galumphing back.”
Now if that isn’t violent. But while I don’t like violence, I LOVE this poem.
And your comment about Dwight Shrute … just the mention of his name makes me laugh. I missed the episode where Struwwelpeter was mentioned. Would love to have seen that.
On censorship, you’re so right. We don’t need someone to lord it over us, what is good for us to think and read (in their opinion).
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February 7, 2022 at 11:04 am
Den “Struwwelpeter” lieh mir meine Cousine, die in der Wohnung neben uns wohnte. Da wir damals noch keinen Fernseher hatten, fanden wir es total spannend, gruselig und kurzweilig und lasen uns die Geschichten immer wieder gegenseitig vor.. Meine kleine Schwester bekam zu ihrem Geburtstag die “Struwwelliese” von Cilly Schmitt-Teichmann. Sie war sehr begeistert von diesem Mädchen und wollte dann auch immer so sein wie sie.
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February 7, 2022 at 11:36 am
When I bought the newer copy of Struwwelpeter (50 yrs. ago) I also bought Struwwelliese, but I didn’t get as attached to it, having grown up only with Struwwelpeter. But I’m happy to hear that you also enjoyed the gruesome stories in Struwwelpeter. 😉
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February 19, 2022 at 3:16 pm
I wrote a bunch of retellings of the Struwwelpeter poems to give them happier endings… sorry not sorry.
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February 19, 2022 at 4:15 pm
That’s fine, Catdefender. Nothing wrong with that. But I’m sorry I’ve had to edit your comment to remove the link just to be on the safe side. Perhaps you can suggest some key words for people to Google if they want to find your stories. I don’t mind posting that.
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February 19, 2022 at 4:24 pm
Well, they are all on my Deviantart gallery. If you search “kaspar and the soup” on Deviantart, you’ll find the first one that I wrote, and then you can just follow my gallery to see the others.
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February 19, 2022 at 4:47 pm
I checked it out and I like your version of the rhyme. Perhaps some other followers will check it out too. Thanks for the share.
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February 19, 2022 at 5:25 pm
You’re welcome. Remember, they’re all there (except for the racist story).
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February 19, 2022 at 5:30 pm
That is actually a good one. When the bullies get dipped in ink, they can see that it’s all superficial and people are people no matter what colour their skin is. So I guess that story didn’t need fixing as much as the others did.
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