Several Nice Little Histories: Vice in Its Proper Shape by Anonymous

A collection of tales about children transforming into animals that fit their misdeeds, Vice in its Proper shape provides the blueprint for much of the cautionary tales genre we know through to today. Anthony Greedyguts turns into a pig, Jack Idle into a donkey, and Dorothy Chatterfast into a magpie! 

All of these tales, as you might expect are grimly funny. Because this was written in the 1700s, there is no proper supernatural intervention in the children's fates. Instead they die of circumstances of their own making and the supernatural only intervenes afterwards to direct their souls into animal bodies.

Curiously despite the presence of souls or human-turned-animal souls, there is very little spirituality here. This is surprising as the 17th century world was deeply entrenched in several religions (for example Catholicism) and it is strange this book's subject matter did not jar with its era. 

Despite being written by an unknown writer, Vice.... features some exquisite and funny turns of phrase and story. There are a lot of quirks, such as a sharp tongued liar of a girl being in snake form. This inventiveness makes up for the extremely "of the time" frame story (Family in India visits menagerie of animals. Has a lot of this trope sadly in it. Ugh.) 

Overall, a good start to this genre, and essential for anyone interested in how certain tropes for these kinds of stories were made. Recommended for anyone looking for a more quirkier book of this type or with an interest in 1700s literature. 

NOTES:

• The Librivox recording is probably the best way to read this (unless you regularly read obscure 1700s texts) as the wording of phrases can sometimes be slightly difficult.

• A more modern musical adaptation called Little Beasts was work-shopped in 2017.  You can listen to some demos here (they're great!) Sadly no word on where next for this musical yet. 

Refrences:

Issiah Thomas. (1789). Vice in its proper shape. Worcester, MA.

The Little Beasts (What happens to Naughty Children). (n.d.). Price Studios. Retrieved from https://soundcloud.com/bateman-and-conley/sets/the-little-beasts-what-happens

Several Nice Little Histories: A Short History of the Cautionary Tale

Due to the advent of the printing press (invented some time in the 14th century), a large section of the 17th century population began to learn to read. Despite there being not a set genre of children's literature, moral instructions via cautionary tales were among some of the first books to directly appeal or be read to children. 

"Vice in Its Proper Shape", published around 1789, in reflected this growing market. A simple set of stories about naughty children being turned into animals that reflect their misdeeds, Vice... codifies several tropes seen in this genre:

• A protagonist or protagonists which are deliberately vile in character (so the audience cheers when they are given their comeuppance) or protagonists whose behaviour is over exaggerated for black, comic humour.

• Long suffering parental/family figures or parental figures who deliberately ignore the protagonist's behaviour or actively encourage.

• Supernatural intervention or metamorphosis by entity or person symbolising morality. This is when the protagonist gets their "comeuppance"

In the Victorian era when middle class families could read, small chapbooks were often given at Sunday School as a narrative to encourage conduct which conformed to Christian theology. 

As chapbooks are extremely religious, the supernatural intervention at the end of the cautionary tale is changed to a tragic event or loss which makes the protagonist reform. Also notable is a lack of dark humour. In "the Old Man's Story", John narrates a tragic story of messing around with fireworks, which leads him to become more pious towards his family and adopts a surrogate brother position to his dead friend's sister.

Many works for children at this time were pious and cloying, or overly harsh. A landscape of reading for fun or pleasure was not well established.

It is these chapbooks which are the "nice little histories" Carroll's Alice recalls reading in Alice's adventures in Wonderland. Both Alice tales as well as George Macdonald's fairy tales helped change this landscape.

As a result Hilaire Belloc's early Edwardian verses "Cautionary Tales for Children" are cautionary yet darkly humorous.

Now just imagine how it feels
When first your toes and then your heels,
And then by gradual degrees,
Your shins and ankles, calves and knees,
Are slowly eaten, bit by bit.
No wonder Jim detested it!

 Mocking its genre as well as being a strangely robust entry in it.

Even "Slovenly Peter", an infamous collection of German Victorian cautionary tales, has a extremely dark humorous side. This was brought out further in a 1998 musical adaptation which overemphasised the ridiculousness of Peter's tales as well as adding on a chilling framework story about parenthood gone wrong.

Cautionary tales have not died out even today, as Jamie Rix's thoroughly British 1990s published collections of "Grizzly Tales..." can show us. Rix takes the supernatural endings of the traditional cautionary tale and makes this a overall threat to his protagonists whilst utilising Slovenly peter style humour for a modern audience (I myself grew up on Rix's tales)

This being the month of October I will be celebrating cautionary tales with an essay every week. I do hope you'll enjoy.

References:

Dean & Son, 11, Ludgate Hill. (1857). The old mans story. London.

Graham, R. (2011, October 28). "Master Anthony Greedyguts" Becomes a Pig: A Slide Show of Cautionary Tales for Children. Retrieved October 1, 2019, from http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2011/10/halloween_slide_show_a_short_history_of_cautionary_tales_for_chi.html?via=gdpr-consent.

Hoffmann, H., Vendetta, S., Zipes, J., & Spence, R. (1999). Struwwelpeter: fearful stories and vile pictures to instruct good little folks. Venice, CA: Feral House.

Issiah Thomas. (1789). Vice in its proper shape. Worcester, MA.

Rix, J. Grizzly Tales for Guesome Kids, 1st ed. Vol. 1. London, 1990: Andre Deutsche Limited, n.d.

Tomkins, C. (2019, May 13). The Inexplicably Enduring Appeal of Hilaire Belloc's "Cautionary Tales". Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-inexplicably-enduring-appeal-of-hilaire-bellocs-cautionary-tales. 

First look at chris Riddell's Alice's adventures in Wonderland illustrations. Both Alice books coming 2020!

This image is from the UK Lewis Carroll Society, who are hosting a talk with Riddell in December. 

Alice and the Unicorn for Through the Looking Glass. Art by Dagmar Berkova.