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 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.