The Dreadful Story of Pauline and the Matches
by Heinrich Hoffmann

Mamma and Nurse went out one day,
And left Pauline alone at play;
Around the room she gayly sprung,
Clapp'd her hands, and danced, and sung.,
Now, on the table close at hand,
A box of matches chanced to stand,
And kind Mamma and Nurse had told her,
That if she touched them they would scold her;
But Pauline said, "Oh, what a pity!
For, when they burn, it is so pretty;
They crackle so, and spit, and flame;
And Mamma often burns the same.
I'll just light a match or two
As I have often seen my mother do."

When Minz and Maunz, the pussy-cats, heard this
They held up their paws and began to hiss. -
"Meow!!" they said, "me-ow, me-o!
You'll burn to death, if you do so,
Your parents have forbidden you, you know."

But Pauline would not take advice,
She lit a match, it was so nice!
It crackled so, it burned so clear,-
Exactly like the picture here.
She jumped for joy and ran about,
And was too pleased to put it out.


When Minz and Maunz, the little cats, saw this,
They said, "Oh, naughty, naughty Miss!""
And stretched their claws,
And raised their paws;
"Tis very, very wrong, you know;
Me-ow, me-o, me-ow, me-o!
You will be burnt if you do so,
our mother has forbidden you, you know. "

Now see! oh! see, what a dreadful thing
The fire has caught her apron-string;
Her apron burns, her arms, her hair;
She burns all over, everywhere.



Then how the pussy-cats did mew
What else, poor pussies, could they do?
They screamed for help, 'twas all in vain,
I So then, they said, "We'll scream again.
Make haste, make haste! me-ow! me-o!
She'll burn to death,- we told her so."

So she was burnt with all her clothes,
And arms and hands, and eyes and nose;
Till she had nothing more to lose
Except her little scarlet shoes;
And nothing else but these was found
Among her ashes on the ground.


And when hen the good cats sat beside
The smoking ashes, how they cried!
"Me-ow me-o! ! Me-ow, me-oo! !
What will Mamma and Nursy do?"
Their tears ran down their cheeks so fast.
They made a little pond at last.

...i'm very sleepy

What kind of hippy lovin' bullshit is this?

Machaela said:

maybe i'll post a different story from der struwwelpeter every night as a little tuck-in story for everyone.

this can seriously traumatize a small child

but it was fuckin hilarious 2 me!!!!

AsianBomb777 said:

don't you have some matches to go play with?

Anxiety said:

can we have warm milk too ?

Machaela said:

i'll have warm chocolate soy milk please!

SammiJ said:

Anxiety said:

Flashbacks of an LSD trip...Steady now Live!

SammiJ said:

with some of these stories, a shot of whiskey might be more appropriate.

SammiJ said:

The Silk Chocolate is my fave!

Anxy, can we have a happy story? The kind that does not give us nightmares of being burned to death? Something hot and steamy?

ShySlantedEye1 said:

DEFFINITELY hot and steamy
just not 2 hot 2 burn 2 death

ShySlantedEye1 said:

did jambi ever give pee wee more than one wish? i think not!

Pleeeeezzzzzeeee!

they shoulda named this I Was A Prepubescent Pyromaniac.

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

Oh man! this reminds my of this book of fairy tales my grandmother had while living in Germany. She passed it on to my father. My father showed it to me one day and though I can't speak German the illustrations were frightening!

sinisterpentatonic said:

der struwwelpeter. one of my favorite books.

Anxiety said:

I think that's the one! I'll have to ask my dad the name again, but it was written in the late 1900's early 20th century. I hope he wills it to me.

Machaela said:

Yeah...same here. But I don't know if it's the story or Anxiety's thread.

sinisterpentatonic said:

i bet it is der struwwelpeter. sounds about right, though popular german fairy tales written around that time weren't exactly what one would call 'soothing'.

there was an opera produced that was based on der struwwelpeter called 'shock headed peter' that was really amazing. i saw that it was revived in nyc this year, though i saw it a few years back when it first was staged. you can probably find the soundtrack on amazon.com - it sounds like something tom waits would do.

missing last four lines

"From this story, a moral take,
and stick to it, for heaven's sake!
The moral is, upon my wealth:
'Burn your neighbour, as yourself'."



Apparently.

great little story.

althom said:

that story did make me sleepy last night.

brownsugar said:

did you have sweet dreams?

Anxiety said:

i don't remember the dream but i slept well

its bedtime... where is MY STORY

Machaela said:

http://www.prince.org/msg/100/140621