What is Max and Moritz?
{{no sources|date=January 2025}} [[Image:Max und Moritz.JPG|thumb|Max and Moritz]] '''Max and Moritz''' (German: '''Max und Moritz''') are two naughty little boys in a story by [[Wilhelm Busch]]. The stories were written in [[1865]] and are still extremely popular in [[Germany]]. Wilhelm Busch was an [[artist]] as well as a [[writer]]. He wrote a lot of stories in [[rhyme]] and made drawings to go with them. ''Max and Moritz'' are stories like these. The two boys get up to lots of naughty [[Practical jokes|pranks]]. There are seven stories (seven pranks). In the final prank they are caught and come to a sad end. In the [[19th century]] writers had to show that bad behaviour would be punished in the end. The seven stories are stories with a [[moral]]. == The seven stories == In the first story the boys tie pieces of [[bread]] onto pieces of [[string]] and put it down where an old woman, Widow Bolte, keeps her [[hen|hens]]. The hens each try to swallow a piece of bread, which sticks in their [[throat|throats]] and they end up hanging in the [[tree]] and die. In the second story Widow Bolte, who is still crying, decides she might as well roast the hens. The boys take [[fishing rod|fishing rods]], climb onto the [[roof]] and pull the frying chickens up with their rods. Widow Bolte finds the chickens gone, thinks her little [[dog]] has eaten them, and gives the poor dog a beating. [[Image:Maxmoritzbrunnen.jpg|right|thumb|250px|A statue in [[Cologne]] of Max and Moritz playing leapfrog]] In the third story they take a [[saw]] and make a hole in the tiny wooden [[bridge]] outside the [[tailor|tailor’s]] house. They shout at the tailor, calling him names. He is furious and comes running out, the bridge breaks and he falls into the [[stream]]. Two flying [[goose|geese]] save him. He has a terrible [[stomach|tummy]] ache but his wife puts a hot [[ironing|iron]] on his tummy and he feels better. In the fourth story the boys put [[gunpowder]] in the [[Pipe (smoke)|pipe]] of the [[teacher|schoolmaster]] w