I love the old scary twisted ones. Like this:
The poem reprinted in the first part of Neal Stephenson’s “The Diamond age” would be another…
Anyone else out there know some good ones?
There was one I remember reading years ago called “Naughty Little Suck-a-thumb.” The child wouldn’t stop sucking his thumb, so his fingers were cut off, one by one. Naturally I can’t lay my fully-fingered hands on it now, will try to find it though.
The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb, right?
Ah, those good 'ol Grant Morrison “Doom Patrol” comics are what set me off in the first place… Thanks!
Struwellpeter is a hideous and terrifying book that soured my childhood. I appreciate its grotesqueness now, but when I was little, it gave me nightmares.
“Ring-a-ring-a-rosie” was meant to be about dying of the plague, but I gather this has been called into question by our very own Cecil.
“London Bridge is falling down” used to scare the shit out of me when I was a kid, but I think that was down to the sound effects on the nursery rhyme record I had.
Oh and of course, “Jack fell down and broke his crown, and Jill came tumbling after.” There was something about trying to fix his broken skull with vinegar and brown paper as well. That’s gotta hurt.
Thanks Darth Nader for finding the poem. I was mistaken in my recollection that the child’s fingers were cut off one-by-one, for each time he was caught. He ONLY lost his thumbs. The accompanying drawings must have terrified many toddlers. On another site they have a rhyme about a boy who doesn’t bathe, comb his hair or cut his nails. Geez, you can’t teach kids anything.
Run, do not walk, and purchase a copy of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts: The Subversive Folklore of Childhood.
A marvelous collection of childhood rhymes, including both classical rhymes, and the little bastards’ take-offs of the classical rhymes. Everything from the title song to “The Adams Family started, when Uncle Fester…”
I just remembered another one:
Scab and matter custard
Snot and bogey pie
Dead dog’s giblets
Green cat’s eye
Spread it on bread
Spread it on thick
Wash it all down
With a cup of cold sick*
*English English for “booger”. Makes golfing commentary quite amusing.
And so of course, is now a musical!
http://www.shockheadedpeter.com/
“The Worms Crawl In” is fairly grotesque and apparently comes in a variety of flavors.