 The effect of Busch 's illustrations are enhanced by his forthright verse , with taunts , derision , ironic twists , exaggeration , ambiguity and startling rhymes . His language had an influence on the humorous poetry of Erich Kästner , Kurt Tucholsky , Joachim Ringelnatz and Christian Morgenstern . The contrast in his later work between comic illustration and its seemingly serious accompanying text — already demonstrated in his earlier Max and Moritz — is shown in Widow Bolte 's mawkish dignity which is disproportionate to the loss of her chickens : 
