Come, Sleep, and make him slumber.
Carry him to the vineyard of the Aga,
To the Garden of the Aga,
The Aga will give him grapes; his wife, roses; his servant, pancakes.
Many early lullabies were sung in honor of the infant Jesus, which really gives them a very blesséd beginning. It is related by a Sicilian poet “When the Madunazza (mother) was mending St. Joseph’s clothes, the Bambineddu (Bambino—the Infant Jesus) cried in his cradle, because no one was attending to Him. So the Archangel Raphael came and rocked Him and said these sweet little words to Him, ‘Lullaby, Jesus, Son of Mary.’”
The Indians, too, sang lullabies, for you know the squaw is a gentle soul and takes beautiful care of her papoose. The Chippewas think of sleep as a big insect and they have named him Weeng. Weeng comes down from the top of a tree where he is busy making a buzzing noise with his wings and puts you to sleep by sending many little fairies to you who beat your head with tiny clubs!
We all know our own Bye, Baby Bunting, Father’s Gone a Hunting, etc., and Rockabye Baby on the Tree Top.
The Germans, whose children songs and lullabies are so lovely, have the familiar Schlaf, Kindlein, Schlaf! It is a sweet name the Italians give their lullaby, the ninne-nanne! And the mothers in Lyons, France, call sleep souin-souin and have a charming little song:
Le Poupon voudrait bien do(r)mir;
Le souin-souin ne peu pas venir.