Maikäferchen, Maikäferchen - German Children's Songs - Germany - Mama Lisa's World: Children's Songs and Rhymes from Around the World  - Intro Image

Notes

*Literally: "threshold"

Note: James Orchard Halliwell translates "Maikäferchen" as "may-bird". A "maybug" is also called a ""cockchafer". It's a type of beetle that appears in April or May and lives for 5 - 7 weeks.

Thanks and Acknowledgements

This rhyme can be found in Die Volkslieder der Deutschen: eine vollständige Sammlung der vorzüglichen deutschen Volkslieder der Mitte des fünfzehnten bis in die erste Hälfte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, Volume 4 (1835) by Friedrich Karl von Erlach.

Translated by Lisa Yannucci and Monique Palomares – based on the translation in Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales, A Sequel to the Nursery Rhymes of England (1849) by James Orchard Halliwell.

Image: Paul Thumann (1834–1908) - Für Mutter und Kind (For mother and child), old rhymes, with new pictures by Paul Thumann, 2nd Edition, Munich, Theodor Stroefer's Kunstverlag (1881).

Vielen Dank!