Cautionary Tales for Children

In these comic verses, Hilaire Belloc offers 'cautionary tales' about children who come to terrible ends for small faults: Jim, who ran away from his nurse and was eaten by a lion; Henry King, who chewed bits of string and died of it; Matilda, who told lies and was burned to death because no one believed her cries of 'Fire!'; Rebecca, who slammed doors for fun and perished miserably; and Lord Lundy, who was too easily moved to tears and so was sent out to govern New South Wales.

Belloc (1870–1953) published the book in 1907 as a parody of the stern moral verses written for Victorian children, and its deadpan humour still makes children and adults laugh. The pictures are by his friend Basil Temple Blackwood. Its model is Heinrich Hoffmann's Struwwelpeter.