Animals have continued to be a major feature of rhyme for children, from the very
popular Comic Adventures of Old Mother Hubbard and her Dog (1805) and The Monkey’s
Frolic (1825) to Edward Lear’s owl and pussycat (1867) and to contemporary verse. They
have always been an important component of alphabet books, from early Shaker
alphabets to the present day, having been used by, among others, Brian Wildsmith,
Wanda Gág, Satoshi Kitamura and Celestino Piatti.
Early children’s books used animals as a device which is still employed in modern
writing for children. Animals in this type of story are really only seen as a way of
portraying human characteristics to young readers in a way they will not find
threatening or disturbing but which will teach them a lesson in human (rather than
animal) nature. This device reached its apotheosis in Victorian times, and is most ably
demonstrated in one of the most famous early children’s books, Sarah Trimmer’s
Fabulous Histories. Designed for the Instruction of Children, respecting their Treatment of
Animals (1786). The didactic purpose of these stories was obvious from the preface in
which Mrs Trimmer wrote that her young readers should be
taught to consider them, not as containing the real conversations of Birds (for that
it is impossible we should ever understand) but as a series of FABLES, intended to
convey moral instruction applicable to themselves, at the same time that they
excite compassion and tenderness for those interesting and delightful creatures, on
which such wanton cruelties are frequently inflicted, and recommend universal
Benevolence.
Darton 1932/1982:158The book contains two major sets of characters, whose stories are interwoven. The story
of the human family is designed to teach those sentiments described above. Cruelty to
animals was a favourite Georgian theme. As Gillian Avery says:
So universal was the moralising on the subject that we are led to conclude the chief
recreation of Georgian youths was spitting cockchafers, pulling the wings off flies,
stripping birds of their feathers, flogging donkeys and horses, and thinking up
ingenious ways to torment kittens and dogs.
Avery 1965:37The animal aspect of Fabulous Histories is designed to explain human foibles and
virtues to a child audience. The Robin family contains father, mother and four children:
Robin, Dicky, Pecksy and Flopsy. Pecksy is held as a shining example of what a good
daughter should be: unattractive in appearance but sweet and dutiful in nature. At all
times she submits to the better knowledge of her parents, unlike the other children who
all come to unfortunate ends. The Robin parents themselves demonstrate every good
quality which the author feels is important. They are good and loving parents, devoted to
each other as a couple and know their proper station in life. Father is fond of moralising
sermons and sends the young on their way from the nest with the following words:
280 ANIMAL STORIES