Cautionary Tales – the first

Slovenly PeterToday I am submitting for inspection a little piece called Conrad and the Tailor, the first in a collection of Cautionary Tales.”  I was inspired by my memories of a slender volume of poems given me by my grandmother when I was three years old.  Slovenly Peter first appeared in Germany as Der Struwwelpeteran 1845 children’s book by Heinrich Hoffman.

Hoffman was, among other things, the doctor at a lunatic asylum in Frankfurt, where he considered himself to be “the sunshine in the life of his miserable patients.”  I will let my readers judge the level of his success.

Have I mentioned that my family specialized in dark humor?

Der Struwwelpeter

Heinrich Hoffman

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