Cautionary Tales

Written for children, enjoyed by grown-ups, Belloc's hilarious and irreverent cautionary tales and poems have entertained for generations.

Written for children, enjoyed by grown-ups, Belloc’s hilarious and irreverent cautionary tales and poems have entertained for generations.

First published in 1907 and in print ever since, Hilaire Belloc’s Cautionary Tales for Children is a deliciously witty parody of the terribly serious moral tales for children, which were popular in Victorian times.

Terrifying and funny at the same time, and with a true sense of the absurd, Belloc brings us the renowned 'Jim, Who ran away from his nurse, and was eaten by a Lion' and unfortunate 'Rebecca, who slammed Doors for Fun and Perished Miserably'.

As well as these stories and many more, this edition includes a selection of mischievous poems from The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts and More Beasts for Worse Children. This volume includes the original illustrations by Basil Temple Blackwood, known as B.T.B.