Wilhelm Busch
German
Max and Moritz are two mischievous boys who live in a village. They do not learn from wise teachings and often find amusement in causing trouble. Their pranks involve stealing, tormenting animals, and generally disrupting the peace. This story recounts their seven major misdeeds and their eventual, grim fate. In the first prank, they lure Widow Bolte's three hens and a rooster to their doom by spreading breadcrumbs attached to threads. When the birds try to eat the bread, they become entangled and hang from a tree, where they die. Widow Bolte finds them and grieves. The second prank involves the same widow. After she prepares the chickens to be eaten, Max and Moritz steal them from the roasting pan using a fishing rod through the chimney. The widow blames her dog, Spitz, who is then beaten. For their third prank, they saw through a bridge over a stream. When the tailor, Meister Böck, attempts to cross it while being taunted by the boys, the bridge breaks, and he falls into the water. He is rescued by two geese, but is left drenched and seasick. His wife cures him with a hot iron. In the fourth prank, they tamper with the pipe of the village teacher, Herr Lämpel. They fill it with gunpowder, and when he lights it after church, it explodes, blowing up his house and leaving him covered in soot and with his hair singed. The teacher is unable to smoke his pipe afterward. The fifth prank targets Uncle Fritz. Max and Moritz collect May beetles and place them under his bedcovers. When Uncle Fritz goes to sleep, the beetles crawl all over him, causing him to jump out of bed and kill them all in a frenzy. In the sixth prank, they enter the baker's house through the chimney to steal pastries. They fall into a barrel of flour, emerging white as ghosts. The baker catches them and bakes them into two loaves of bread. However, the boys are still alive inside the bread and escape by gnawing their way out. The baker's chickens then eat the remnants. The seventh and final prank involves farmer Mecke. Max and Moritz cut holes in his grain sacks, causing the grain to spill out as he carries them. Mecke catches the boys and puts them into one of his sacks. He takes them to the miller, Meister Müller, who grinds them up with the grain. The miller's chickens then consume the ground-up remains of Max and Moritz, bringing their mischievous lives to a definitive end. The villagers rejoice that their reign of terror is over.
