The Story of Cruel Frederick (thing)

This Frederick! this Frederick!
A naughty, wicked boy was he;
He caught the flies, poor little things,
And then tore off their tiny wings;
He killed the birds, and broke the chairs,
And threw the kitten down the stairs;
And oh! far worse and worse,
He whipped his good and gentle nurse!

The trough was full, and faithful Tray
Came out to drink one sultry day;
He wagged his tail, and wet his lip,
When cruel Fred snatched up a whip,
And whipped poor Tray till he was sore,
And kicked and whipped him more and more;

At this, good Tray grew very red,
And growled and bit him till he bled;
Then you should only have been by,
To see how Fred did scream and cry!

So Frederick had to go to bed;
His leg was very sore and red!
The Doctor came and shook his head,
And made a very great to-do,
And gave him bitter physic too.

But good dog Tray is happy now;
He has no time to say "bow-wow!"
He seats himself in Frederick's chair,
And laughs to see the nice things there:
The soup he swallows, sup by sup,-
And eats the pies and puddings up.

Hoffman's original illustrations make interesting use of sequential art: he captures multiple instants of the action in an arranged landscape.

New Writeups