Crumbs

My mother took a perverse joy in reciting this poem to us when we were little.

The Story of Augustus Who Would Not Have Any Soup
by Heinrich Hoffmann

Augustus was a chubby lad;
Fat ruddy cheeks Augustus had;
And everybody saw with joy
The plump and hearty healthy boy.
He ate and drank as he was told,
And never let his soup get cold.
But one day, one cold winter's day,
He threw away the spoon and screamed:
"O take the nasty soup away!
I won't have any soup today!"

Next day! Now look, a picture shows
How lank and lean Augustus grows!
Yet, though he feels so weak and ill,
The naughty fellow cries out still
"Not any soup for me, I say!
O take the nasty soup away!"

The third day comes. O what a sin!
To make himself so pale and thin.
Yet, when the soup is put on table,
He screams, as loud as he is able
"Not any soup for me, I say!
O take the nasty soup away!
I won't have any soup today!"

Look at him, now the fourth day's come!
He scarce outweighs a sugarplum;

He's like a little bit of thread;
And on the fifth day he was dead.