What's Struwwelpeter? The german equivalent of Tailypot?
I don't know who/what Tailypot is, but Struwwelpeter is a collection of (illustrated) short stories meant to teach children to behave properly by vastly exaggerating the consequences of misbehaviour. Examples include a thumb-sucker having them cut off, a girl playing with fire and burning to ash, and a child refusing to eat his soup and starving.That last one was repeatedly quoted to me and my brothers (we're from Germany) because none of us liked to eat soup (and we actually still don't) See here. The german wikipedia page has the pictures as well.
It's a somewhat popular children's book in Finland, too. My parents were (and still are) quite fond of the story of the kid who wouldn't stop sucking his thumbs and had them cut off by a tailor with giant-ass scissors.
The song isn't actually meant for children, but it's made in a parody of children's song style and... You know how kids love violent songs? I knew a couple of good Teletubbies theme parodies and AFAIK Barney the dinosaur is very often brutally murdered in playground lyrics.
EDIT: Curse Bless you Eterya and your ninja powers!
When I was in elementary school in second grade towards the end of the school year my teacher read the class this short picture book about a little clay creature made by an old man. The clay thing was hungry so it ate the man and his wife and pretty much everything else imaginable throughout the course of the book and he kept growing bigger the more he ate. It was freaky.
And they call these things "childrens" stuff. The teacher got fired the next school year actually. Wonder why...
Meanwhile, absolutely no one lift an eyebrow about a children's story about two children, lost in a forest, who burn a cannibalistic which to her death in her own oven...
3 days and no one mentioned one of finest pieces of russians' madness (no offense intended).
In my childhood (199Xs) there was popular so called "Sadistic Lil' Poems"("Садистские стишки") - cultural phenomenon in 70s-90s (USSR-exUSSR). Contents similar to "Struwwelpeter" and contains flagrant non-compliance with the safety rules of communication with reality and ends with death or severe body damage. Unlike "Struwwelpeter" often there wasn't any morale in the end or actual behave teaching - just dry grotesque and guro. Of course they exaggerated, but inspiration by "that reality" showed well. Yes, black humor at it's finest was popular within schoolchildren. Since "hard times" is over ('till late 90s) those poems became unpopular due to more "safe" today environment. Good explaination of poems' origin peacefully rests here.
Some lazily translated examples, one per "place":
Before read - it's hard to keep it rhymed and in English, but I prefer to do literal translation to keep juicy contents. On construction site: Маленький мальчик по стройке гулял, -> Little boy walked on construction site, В бочку с бензином случайно попал. ->In the barrel of gasoline accidentally fell. Стал задыхаться, высунул нос -> Began to choke, stuck out his nose Добренький дядя спичку поднёс! -> Good Uncle* drop a matchstick
Долго горящую бочку с бензином -> Long time burning barrel with gasoline Добренький дядя тушил керосином! -> Was extinguished by Good Uncle with kerosene! TN:*uncle ("дядя") - the form of address by children to any male adult, same for female "aunt".
On high (rooftops or other high places): Маленький мальчик по крыше гулял, -> Little boy walked on roof, Крыша закончилась, мальчик упал. -> Roof is over, boy is fell. Долго смотрели собаки и кошки, -> Cats and dogs looked so long, Как шевелились глаза у лепешки. -> How the meatcake's eyeballs can move.
Transport: Маленький мальчик по шпалам гулял, -> Little boy was walking on rails, Рядом за ручку сестрёнку держал. -> By hand his lil' sister was kept. Быстро промчался экспресс из Сибири: -> Express quickly raced from Siberia: Было их двое — стало четыре. -> Were two of them - now are four there.
Water: Маленький мальчик купаться полез -> Little boy went to bathe, Мощно работали лопасти ГЭС -> Powerful blades was on HPP*. Тихо засасывал водоворот -> Whirlpool quietly sucking Дальше по речке мясо плывет -> A meat floating further on river. N:*Hydroelectric Power Plant
And suddenly, Internets: Маленький мальчик с детства флудил, -> Little boy since baby was flooding, Троллил на форумах, людям хамил. -> Trolled on forums, to people was rude. Череп проломлен, сломаны пальцы: -> Skull is fractured, fingers are broken: В долгу не остались в сети постояльцы. -> Without debt frequenters left.
To be honest - some of these places, being abandoned and near living districts, was playgrounds (especially const. sites and buildings, ruins included). For real.
Unfortunately, Youtube no longer has the Fullmetal Alchemist AMV version of the song. When the part "mom went to horpital" is sung, the video shows the bald and huge Alex Louis Armstrong in a hospital bed.
Here's one good "dark" song from Finland, too. Musta Enkeli, "The Black Angel" by Tuomari Nurmio(Tuomari= judge). It's about a kid's birthday party, which is suddenly interrupted by the black angel, which kidnaps the birthday hero and soon everything's out of control(mom screaming to the janitor and kids crying and dad babbling something incomprehensive to the cops ^^) Am I weird for actually digging this?
Unfortunately, I'm going to sleep now, so If Budoka-san or someone else from Team Finland could provide a translation of the juiciest bits? Of course, once I get up tomorrow, I might put my fingers on it, too.
Here's one good "dark" song from Finland, too. Musta Enkeli, "The Black Angel" by Tuomari Nurmio(Tuomari= judge). It's about a kid's birthday party, which is suddenly interrupted by the black angel, which kidnaps the birthday hero and soon everything's out of control(mom screaming to the janitor and kids crying and dad babbling something incomprehensive to the cops ^^) Am I weird for actually digging this?
Unfortunately, I'm going to sleep now, so If Budoka-san or someone else from Team Finland could provide a translation of the juiciest bits? Of course, once I get up tomorrow, I might put my fingers on it, too.
I like that song, too. Not to mention pretty much everything else by Hande. I love how the chorus goes in the tune of that "nyeah-nyeah-nyeah-nyeah nyeaaa nyeaaa!" everyone knows from playgrounds.
Lazy TL of "Children's Juice Party"
(CHORUS) :Children's juice party Got a nasty ending The Black Angel took the Party boy away (repeated with a choir of children): (/CHORUS)
Mommy's on the balcony With exploded hair And yelling for the janitor Upset with shock and fear The little guests are weeping All still terrified And daddy's talking to the cops Completely mystified
(CHORUS)
No-one ever told you to eat So much of that cake Or pour the ice-cold juice down other Little children's neck That stuff puts you frying in the Devil's frying pan Nobody in this world is saved Not one innocent man
(CHORUS)
:Who's in the world to protect And love the little child? Who stops him from hurting himself In all his play so wild? The evil black angel can take Anyone he sees And all the other angels are Nothing but fantasy:
The evil Black Angel took the party boy away The evil Black Angel took the dust eater away The evil Black Angel took the li'l monster away The evil Black Angel took the party boy away The evil black angel can take Anyone he sees And all the other angels are Nothing but fantasy
I sacrificed some of the literal meaning to get a bit of the rhyme and meter in.
I find this slight hilarious in hindsight considering that Futo and Mokou befriended each other in Urban Legend in Limbo. Not enough though to add it to the pool. Especially for an old post like this.
Who loves the little arsonist
"Murhapolttaja" ("arsonist") literally means "Murder-burner"