Awkward Children's Tales

Maggie has a lot of great books. We spend a lot of time reading them. Some of the best of them are true "classics", which I guess means that they're pretty old, and yet still awesome to read.

They also contain things that would be extremely unlikely to be published today. Take Curious George for example:

"After a good meal, and a good pipe, George felt very tired."

Or below a page from Good Night, Little Bear, by the famous Richard Scarry.
Oh Mother, you are such a tease. And last but not least is the wealth of Beatrix Potter stories, which are pretty much uniformly wonderful in this regard. Below is Jemima Puddle-duck, and a little context is needed: Jemima wanted to hatch her own eggs, so she ran away into the forest to do so, where she is befriend by a fox, posing as a friend, but planning on eating her and her eggs. The ending? Jemima is rescued by several farm dogs, who save Jemima, but in their excited frenzy, also eat all her eggs. Redemption comes in the last page, as seen below.

She had always been a bad sitter. The End.

Do I take a delight in these non-PC moments? Obviously, I do. Why? I think it's because these classic stories preserve for the next generation the knowledge that, for better or worse, society has not always thought and behaved like it currently does, nor is it likely to remain like this indefinitely. Any other examples spring to mind?