Cautionary Tales for Children

Either Hillaire Belloc has a delightfully ironic mind, or he was a most sadistic man. Did he really intend the Cautionary Tales for Children to teach a moral lesson to children by terrorizing them? Maybe it was really meant for older children who can get the irony and exaggeration. It reminds me, though, of the original Pinnochio by Carlo Colloti, which is so full of violence and cruelty that I couldn't finish reading it to my kids. Beverly Cleary Belloc wasn't.