Max and Moritz in the Garden

For the last couple of years I’ve been reading the names Max und Moritz in my German lessons. I had no idea who they were. Well, today I learned. Sis Enger taught us about these two pranksters from an old book written and illustrated by Wilhelm Busch in 1865 called “Max and Moritz: A Story of Seven Boyish Pranks” It’s an inventive, blackly humorous tale, told entirely in rhymed couplets, about two boys who play pranks.

Our lesson was about May Beetles or Maikaefer (similar to our June Bugs). In the book, the boys collect bags full of May bugs, which they promptly deposit in their Uncle Fritz’s bed. Uncle Fritz is nearly asleep when he feels the bugs walking on his nose. Horrified, he goes into a frenzy, killing them all before going back to sleep.

Erika told us how she, as a little girl who had read the book, did the same prank on her her mother.

This storybook is one of the best-selling children’s books and has been translated into 300 languages and dialects.

Here’s the Preface to the book translated into English:

Ah, how oft we read or hear of
Boys we almost stand in fear of!
For example, take these stories
Of two youths, named Max and Moritz,
Who, instead of early turning
Their young minds to useful learning,
Often leered with horrid features
At their lessons and their teachers.

The widow’s house (second trick)

Look now at the empty head: he
Is for mischief always ready.
Teasing creatures – climbing fences,
Stealing apples, pears, and quinces,
Is, of course, a deal more pleasant,
And far easier for the present,
Than to sit in schools or churches,
Fixed like roosters on their perches

But O dear, O dear, O deary,
When the end comes sad and dreary!
‘Tis a dreadful thing to tell
That on Max and Moritz fell!
All they did this book rehearses,
Both in pictures and in verses.

Check here for the story of Max and Moritz, written by Wilhelm Busch in German alongside with an English translation. The stories were darkly delightful and I went right home and ordered the book.

Here’s what the May Beetles look like. They surface only every 7 years.

After class, Erika showed us more of the baby booties she knits. She has donated 100s of these to humanitarian efforts. Each pair of booties takes her many hours to make, using her great-grandmother’s pattern.