Cruel Fred (author unknown)
November 2018
Cruel Fred; And Other Funny Stories and Pictures is a delightful little children’s book originally published in Edinburgh in 1855. Four different children (three boys and one girl) with severe character defects are taught the error of their ways over the course of three or four pages of verse for each of them. Every page includes a humorous illustration to accompany the verse. While two of them learn their lesson, reform their ways, and live happily ever after, the other two are punished rather dramatically by modern standards... one of them eaten by wolves and the other by “birds of prey.”
This is a fun little book to read to children and it can’t help but improve your little urchins’ behavior if they think misbehavior might be punished by getting eaten by wolves, eh?
This is a fun little book to read to children and it can’t help but improve your little urchins’ behavior if they think misbehavior might be punished by getting eaten by wolves, eh?