During Winter of 1845, German physician Heinrich Hoffman found himself in a tough situation. He wanted to buy his son a book of fairy tales, but he found none that met his highly righteous standards. So instead, he purchased a blank notebook and began writing his own, focusing on the negative consequences of poor decisionmaking. They're all pretty sadistic, but my favorites are "The dreadful story of Pauline and the matches," and "The story of little suck-a-thumb." After reading them, it comes as no surprise that Hoffman worked as a doctor in an insane asylum. Perhaps he put a few too many hours in around the crazies.
I'm told Dwight Shrute read these during the "Bring your child to work day" episode of The Office. A Youtube search proved unproductive, but if anyone has it, I'd love to see!
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