Max and Moritz Facts for Kids

Max and Moritz

Max and Moritz (German: Max und Moritz) are two very naughty boys from a famous story by Wilhelm Busch. These stories were written in 1865 and are still super popular in Germany today.

Wilhelm Busch was both an artist and a writer. He created many rhyming stories with his own drawings, and Max and Moritz is one of them. The two boys are always playing mean tricks. There are seven of these pranks in the book. In the very last prank, they finally get caught and face a sad ending. Back in the 19th century, stories often showed that bad actions would be punished in the end. So, the seven stories of Max and Moritz teach a lesson.

The Seven Pranks
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The Seven Pranks

Prank 1: The Hens

In their first prank, Max and Moritz tied pieces of bread to strings. They placed these near an old woman named Widow Bolte, who kept hens. The hens tried to swallow the bread, but it got stuck in their throats. Sadly, the hens ended up hanging from the tree and died.

Prank 2: The Roasted Hens

Widow Bolte was still crying about her hens. She decided to roast them for dinner. But Max and Moritz had another idea! They used fishing rods to pull the frying chickens right off the roof. Widow Bolte found her chickens gone. She thought her little dog ate them and gave the poor dog a beating.

A statue in Cologne of Max and Moritz playing leapfrog

Prank 3: The Tailor's Bridge

Next, the boys used a saw to cut a hole in the small wooden bridge outside the tailor’s house. They then shouted mean names at the tailor. He ran out in a fury, but the bridge broke, and he fell into the stream. Two flying geese helped him out. He had a bad tummy ache, but his wife put a hot iron on his tummy, and he felt better.

Prank 4: The Schoolmaster's Pipe

In their fourth trick, the boys put gunpowder into the pipe of the schoolmaster. He was in church at the time. When he later lit his pipe, there was a big explosion!

Prank 5: The Beetles in Bed

Max and Moritz collected many beetles. They put them under the mattress in their uncle’s bed. In the middle of the night, while their uncle was sleeping, the beetles crawled all over him. He woke up and fought them until he had killed them all.

Prank 6: The Baker's Dough

The boys tried to steal some pretzels (German rolls) from the bakery. But they fell right into a big tub of dough. The baker came in and found them covered in dough. He baked them in the oven. However, when they were taken out, they ate their way through the dough and escaped!

Prank 7: The Miller's Mill

In their final prank, the boys cut a hole in the farmer’s sacks of grain. When the miller picked up a sack, he saw the grain spilling out. He spotted the boys, put them into a sack, and took them to the mill. There, the miller ground them into corn and fed them to his ducks.