Cautionary Tales for Children - Hilaire Belloc

Cautionary Tales for Children: Designed for the Admonition of Children between the ages of eight and fourteen years is a 1907 children's book written by Hilaire Belloc. It is a parody of the cautionary tales that were popular in the 19th century.

Illustrated by Belloc's friend from Oxford Basil Temple Blackwood, it is similar in style to The Bad Child's Book of Beasts which had brought Belloc public acclaim and commercial success a decade earlier. The book contains an introduction and eleven tales, all written in rhyming couplets.

"Introduction: Upon being asked by a Reader whether the verses contained in this book were true."

"Jim: Who ran away from his Nurse, and was eaten by a Lion."

"Henry King: Who chewed bits of string, and was early cut off in Dreadful agonies."

"Matilda: Who told Lies, and was Burned to Death."

"Franklin Hyde: Who caroused in the Dirt and was corrected by His Uncle."

"Godolphin Horne: Who was cursed with the Sin of Pride, and, Became a Boot-black."

"Algernon: Who played with a Loaded Gun, and, on missing his Sister, was reprimanded by his Father."

"Hildebrand: Who was frightened by a Passing Motor, and was brought to reason."

"Lord Lundy: Who was too Freely Moved to Tears, and thereby ruined his Political Career."

"Rebecca: Who Slammed Doors For Fun And Perished Miserably."

"George: Who played with a Dangerous Toy, and suffered a Catastrophe of considerable Dimensions."

"Charles Augustus Fortescue: Who Always Did what was Right, and so Accumulated an Immense Fortune."

Four of the Cautionary Tales were set to music by Liza Lehmann in 1909; the famous contralto Clara Butt sang the piece in a successful tour of Britain in the same year. The British actor Stephen Fry recorded a selection of the verses as an audiobook in 1992, and the American artist Edward Gorey (1925–2000) created 61 new illustrations for the book, which were published posthumously in 2002. Pink Floyd writer and singer Syd Barrett used the book as the basis for the song "Matilda Mother" from the 1967 album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn

In the Cautionary Tales for Children, the famous satirist writes a collection of 11 tales of rhyming admonishments for children to make them aware of their moral responsibilities.

Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc was a British-French writer and historian and one of the most prolific writers in England during the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. His Catholic faith had a strong impact on his works. He was President of the Oxford Union and later MP for Salford from 1906 to 1910. He was a noted disputant, with a number of long-running feuds, but also widely regarded as a humane and sympathetic man.[according to whom?] Belloc became a naturalised British subject in 1902 while retaining his French citizenship.

His writings encompassed religious poetry and comic verse for children. His widely sold Cautionary Tales for Children included "Jim, who ran away from his nurse, and was eaten by a lion" and "Matilda, who told lies and was burned to death".[2] He also collaborated with G. K. Chesterton on a number of works. (Wikipedia)