Editing Wilhelm Busch (section)

===Childhood===
Wilhelm Busch was born on 14 April 1832,<ref name="Archion">{{Cite web|url=https://www.archion.de/de/news/magazin/persoenlichkeiten/wilhelm-busch/|title="Dieses war der erste Streich, Doch der zweite folgt sogleich" - Wilhelm Busch|date=14 April 2022|publisher=Archion|language=de}}</ref><ref name="Galway2000">{{Cite journal|title=Wann hatte Wilhelm Busch wirklich Geburtstag?|first=Carol|last=Galway|journal=Germanic Notes and Reviews|year=2000|volume=31|number=1|issn=0016-8882|pages=14–18|trans-title=When was Wilhelm Busch's birthday, really?|language=de}}</ref>{{efn| name = Birth date}} the first of seven children to Henriette Kleine Stümpe and Friedrich Wilhelm Busch. His six siblings followed shortly after: Fanny (1834), Gustav (1836), Adolf (1838), Otto (1841), Anna (1843), and Hermann (1845); all survived childhood. His parents were ambitious, hard-working and devout Protestants who later, despite becoming relatively prosperous, could not afford to educate all three sons.<ref>Wessling, p. 22</ref> Busch's biographer Berndt W. Wessling suggested that Friedrich Wilhelm Busch invested heavily in the education of his sons partly because his own illegitimacy held significant stigma in rural areas.<ref>Wessling, p. 22, 24</ref>

The young Wilhelm Busch was a tall child, with a delicate physique. The coarse boyishness of his later protagonists, "[[Max and Moritz]]" was not his own. He described himself in autobiographical sketches and letters as sensitive and timid, someone who "carefully studied fear",<ref name="Weissweiler, p. 20">Weissweiler, p. 20</ref> and who reacted with fascination, compassion, and distress when animals were killed in the autumn.<ref name="Weissweiler, p. 20"/> He described the "transformation to sausage" as "dreadfully compelling",<ref>Weissweiler, p. 27</ref><ref>Weissweiler, p. 26</ref> leaving a lasting impression; pork nauseated him throughout his life.<ref>Weissweiler, pp. 25–27</ref>

In the autumn of 1841, after the birth of his brother Otto, Busch's education was entrusted to the 35-year-old clergyman, Georg Kleine, his maternal uncle at [[Ebergötzen]], where 100 children were taught within a space of {{convert|66|sqm|sqft|abbr=on}}.<ref>Schury, pp. 32–33</ref> This probably through lack of space in the Busch family home, and his father's desire for a better education than the small local school could provide. The nearest convenient school was located in [[Bückeburg]], {{convert|20|km|mi|abbr=on}} from Wiedensahl. Kleine, with his wife Fanny Petri, lived in a [[Clergy house|rectory]] at Ebergötzen, while Busch was lodged with an unrelated family. Kleine and his wife were responsible and caring, exercised a substitute parental role, and provided refuge for him in future unsuccessful times.<ref>Weissweiler, p. 29</ref><ref>Diers, p. 16</ref>
[[File:MaxMoritz.jpg|thumb|240px|A scene from ''Max and Moritz'']]

Kleine's private lessons for Busch also were attended by Erich Bachmann, the son of a wealthy Ebergötzen miller. Both became friends, according to Busch the strongest friendship of his childhood. This friendship was echoed in the 1865 story, ''Max and Moritz''. A small pencil portrait by the 14-year-old Busch depicted Bachmann as a chubby, confident boy, and showed similarities with Max. Busch portrayed himself with a "cowlick", in the later "Moritzian" [[Pompadour (hairstyle)|perky style]].<ref>Weissweiler, pp. 33–34</ref>

Kleine was a [[Philology|philologist]], his lessons not held in contemporary language, and it is not known for certain all subjects Busch and his friend were taught. Busch did learn [[elementary arithmetic]] from his uncle, although science lessons might have been more comprehensive, as Kleine, like many other clergymen, was a [[beekeeper]], and published essays and textbooks on the subject,<ref>Weisweiler, p. 32</ref><ref>Diers, p. 15</ref>&nbsp;– Busch demonstrated his knowledge of bee-keeping in his future stories. Drawing, and German and English poetry, were also taught by Kleine.<ref>Schury, p. 41</ref>

Busch had little contact with his natural parents during this period. At the time, the {{convert|165|km|mi|abbr=on}} journey between Wiedensahl and Ebergötzen took three days by horse.<ref>Schury, p. 36</ref> His father visited Ebergötzen two to three times a year, while his mother stayed in Wiedensahl to look after the other children. The 12-year-old Busch visited his family once; his mother at first did not recognize him.<ref>Kraus, p. 10</ref> Some Busch biographers think that this early separation from his parents, especially from his mother, resulted in his eccentric bachelorhood.<ref>Wessling, pp.&nbsp;30–32</ref><ref>Ueding, p. 36</ref> In the autumn of 1846, Busch moved with the Kleines to [[Lüthorst]], where, on 11 April 1847, he was [[Confirmation|confirmed]].<ref>Kraus, p. 165</ref>