I bought this great old book for Lydia at a consignment sale. It looked like some old books I had as a kid that were my mom’s as a kid. It’s hard for me to pass up any book much less an old book.
I was so excited because it was a collection of stories. And that usually means a few fairy tales, a true to life story and maybe some poems. Plus, it’s called the BEST in Children’s Books. So, it’s go to have some classic stories in it, right?
One day at naptime I decided to give this book a go. I flipped through it, looking for the shortest story and found a poem. It had lots of pictures and looked fun. And it was. For about two stanzas. Then it started getting…gruesome.
It’s about an old lady who can’t get her pig to jump over a gate. She asks a dog to bite her pig and then asks a stick to beat the dog because the dog won’t bite the pig. This keeps going until she gets to a butcher. She asks a butcher to kill an ox. He won’t do it. So, she asks a rope to HANG THE BUTCHER!
Are you believing this?!
So, I’m changing the words around and skipping entire verses so I can see how it ends without scarring Lydia for life. At least no one obeys the old lady. Uh…until the last verse. Now, check out this illustration:
Is that the most morbid thing you’ve ever seen? *shudder* Who thought this was the BEST in Children’s literature?!
So, needless to say, we haven’t picked this book up again. And I probably won’t be buying Lydia any more old books for Christmas this year!
(hey, if you do need a good Holiday gift guide,
my friend, Jo-Lynne at Musings of a Housewife
has created a fabu one that includes some awesome giveaways!)
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Twitter: DiaperDiaries
November 19, 2008 at 11:02 am
Um, I totally know that story from my childhood. Think I might have even had that book. Hmmm, this would explain some things…
Wow! That illustration is creeeeepy!
I think I had that book…
Somehow that story sounds familiar to me. The book looks vaguely familiar too. Something my parents had when I was a kid, maybe.
If you think about it, some of the old nursery rhymes are even whacked. Wee Willy Winky runs through the town in his jammies. An old woman lives in a shoe with a bunch of kids.
Amanda,
If you decide you want to get rid of the book send me an email. It sounds like something I’d love to have in my collection.
p.s. I’m being completely serious.
Yikes! I don’t think I’d be picking the book up either!
P.S. did you get my email about the package?
Niiiiiiiice! At least it sounds like Lydia isn’t attached to the book. She may never know that it’s ‘missing’.
Hey Amanda! That is CRAZY!
Have you read the original Fairy tales?
The Little Mermaid turns into ocean foam and dies. The original Rapunzel gets pregnant (!) and wonders why her clothes don’t fit. The wicked stepmother in Snow White is forced to put her feet into red hot iron shoes and dance until she dies.
Sounds like you’ve got a classic book.
I remember that poem! I even remember liking it – perhaps I didn’t *get* the whole meaning?
All I can say is, “Three Blind Mice, Three Blind Mice”
I’m simply horrified!
PS But that is *such* a cute picture of Lydia!
So weird… I went to a children’s book party last night and was looking through the Bedtime Stories for Boys book – and it was full of nothing but ghost stories. Why in the world would I want to read ghost stories to my son just before he goes to bed?
Twitter: brandiofbham
November 20, 2008 at 9:28 am
Yuck! I would have loved to be a fly on the wall and hear you ad-libbing the story!
BTW, 11 OhAmanda posts showed up in my bloglines today. 11! I’m done with the bloglines! Done, I tell you! (See, I’m so mad, I won’t even capitalize them!)
OMG!
However… My friend is taking a children’s literature class and most of the books they are going through, are HORRIBLE…
Something about harder/darker times of years gone by. I guess, if we stop and analyze a lot of our nursery rhymes we can see how this could be among the “best”…
omg that’s hysterical (in a hysterical-creepy) way. It’s so funny how children’s “classics” are – Yertle the Turtle we realized we had to change when Conner told one of his classmates to “Hush up your Mouth!” and I was so embarrassed so I blamed it on Dr Seuss
That is really crazy! And strange. What were they thinking?
Twitter: JoLynneS
November 21, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Oh gosh. Well, then. Glad to know it’s not just modern books that are awful! (See my post today!!)
I saw a bunch of those books at Goodwill and was really tempted to get them. The covers are so cute!
Twitter: jubes
November 25, 2008 at 3:03 am
I don’t recommend buying any Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale books. Talk about gruesome! Ugh!
I would love to own that book; it’s a blast from the past. Very cool. (Horrific, but cool.)
Twitter: momof2dancers
December 9, 2008 at 12:23 am
Oh my gosh, what a crazy find. Did you check ebay, it might be worth something, LOL
I used to have mice – my blog tells you how to get rid of mice, stop by and check it out.