Maikäferchen, fliege,
Dein Vater ist im Kriege,
Dein Mutter ist in Pommerland,
Pommerland ist abgebrannt!
Maikäferchen, fliege.
"May-bird, fly. Thy father is in the war, thy mother is in Pomerania, Pomerania is burnt! May-bird, fly."—See, also, Erk und Irmer, Die Deutschen Volkslieder, Berlin, 1839, iv. 7, Das Maikäferlied. For the two pretty Swedish songs which follow I am indebted to the MS. of Mr. Stephens. The first is common in the southern parts of that country, the other in the northern.
Guld-höna, guld-ko!
Flyg öster, flyg vester,
Dit du flyger der bor din älskade!
"Gold-hen, gold-cow! fly east, fly west, you will fly where your sweetheart is."
Jungfru Marias Nyckelpiga!
Flyg öster, flyg vester,
Flyg dit der min käresta bor! [2]
| [2] | This is a very remarkable coincidence with an English rhyme: Fly, lady-bird, fly! North, south, east, or west; Fly to the pretty girl That I love best. |
"Fly, our holy Virgin's bower-maid! fly east, fly west, fly where my loved-one dwelleth." In Denmark they sing (Thiele, iii. 134):
Fly, fly, our Lord's own hen!
To-morrow the weather fair will be,
And eke the next day too. [3]
| [3] | The lady-bird, observes Mr. Chambers, is always connected with fine weather in Germany and the north. |
Accumulative tales are of very high antiquity. The original of "the House that Jack Built" is well known to be an old Hebrew hymn in Sepher Haggadah. It is also found in Danish, but in a somewhat shorter form; (See Thiele, Danske Folkesagn, II. iii. 146, Der har du det Huus som Jacob bygde;) and the English version is probably very old, as may be inferred from the mention of "the priest all shaven and shorn." A version of the old woman and her sixpence occurs in the same collection, II. iv. 161, Konen och Grisen Fick, the old wife and her piggy Fick,—"There was once upon a time an old woman who had a little pig hight Fick, who would never go home late in the evening. So the old woman said to her stick: