In 1844 a father wrote a book for his son, a collection of one gruesome story after the next. It became one of the most well-known German children’s books ever (not the most beloved).
This is the story of Augustus, who would not have his soup (I grabbed the translation into English from this site).
Augustus was a chubby lad;
Fat ruddy cheeks Augustus had:
And everybody saw with joy
The plump and hearty, healthy boy.
He ate and drank as he was told,
And never let his soup get cold.
But one day, one cold winter's day,
He screamed out "Take the soup away!
O take the nasty soup away!
I won't have any soup today."
Next day, now look, the picture shows
How lank and lean Augustus grows!
Yet, though he feels so weak and ill,
The naughty fellow cries out still
"Not any soup for me, I say:
O take the nasty soup away!
I won't have any soup today."
The third day comes: Oh what a sin!
To make himself so pale and thin.
Yet, when the soup is put on table,
He screams, as loud as he is able,
"Not any soup for me, I say:
O take the nasty soup away!
I WON'T have any soup today."
Look at him, now the fourth day's come!
He scarcely weighs a sugar-plum;
He's like a little bit of thread,
And, on the fifth day, he was—dead!
Die Geschichte vom Suppen-Kaspar, aus: Der Struwwelpeter von Heinrich Hoffmann
pictures imperfect blog 
You might be surprised to hear that Struwwelpeter was as well known to English children as to German. Well, to this English child anyway. I liked it – probably the horrific illustrations and the de-dum-de-dum rhymes …
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Good for you! I liked the story of Niklas who punishes the boys making fun of a black boy. It is still kind of racists (the punishment for their jokes the boys are dipped in black ink) but I always liked it.
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Funnily enough, I can’t remember that one at all.
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https://internet-maerchen.de/maerchen/schwarz.htm I don’t know the English version. But it’s the story of ink-black boy walking around half naked in the sunshine. He’s teased by three boys about his colour. Niklas (aka St Nicholas) scolds them saying: It’s not his fault that he is not white like you. They don’t listen and finally Niklas grabs them and dunks them in the ink well and they end up blacker than the “Moor”. https://internet-maerchen.de/maerchen/schwarz.htm
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As he had often done before,
The woolly-headed Black-a-moor
One nice fine summer’s day went out
To see the shops, and walk about;
And, as he found it hot, poor fellow,
He took with him his green umbrella,
Then Edward, little noisy wag,
Ran out and laughed, and waved his flag;
And William came in jacket trim,
And brought his wooden hoop with him;
And Arthur, too, snatched up his toys
And joined the other naughty boys.
So, one and all set up a roar,
And laughed and hooted more and more,
And kept on singing,—only think!—
“Oh, Blacky, you’re as black as ink!” … and so on. It’s available in Project Gutenberg. And actually, I do remember the illustration of the lad with his green umbrella.
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That is a quick weight loss scheme Elke. Obviously the bloke in the photo hadn’t read the story but his face is priceless. So petulant child 😂
Thanks for joining in RDP 😀
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😁
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