"Thou art sleeping, my son, and at ease,
Lulled by the whisperings of the trees."
Another German nurse song of a playful yet commanding tone translates—
"Baby, go to sleep!
Mother has two little sheep,
One is black and one is white;
If you do not sleep to-night,
First the black and then the white
Shall give your little toe a bite."
A North Holland version has degenerated into the flabby Dutch of—
"Sleep, baby, sleep!
Outside there stands a sheep
With four white feet,
That drinks its milk so sweet.
Sleep, baby, sleep!"
The old English cradle rhyme, evidently written to comfort fathers more than babies, is given by way of contrast, and, as is usual with our own countrymen, the versification is thoroughly British, slurred over and slovenly—
"Hush thee, my babby,
Lie still with thy daddy,
Thy mammy has gone to the mill
To grind thee some wheat
To make thee some meat,
Oh, my dear babby, do lie still!"
The Danish lullaby of
"Sweetly sleep, my little child,
Lie quiet and still.
The bird nests in the wood,
The flower rests in the meadow grass;
Sweetly sleep, my little child."