Liedtext (Lyrics)
Der vollständige Liedtext von „Schlaf, Kindlein, Schlaf“ mit englischer Übersetzung.
Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf! Der Vater hüt' die Schaf, die Mutter schüttelt's Bäumelein, da fällt herab ein Träumelein. Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf!
#English translation
Sleep, little child, sleep! Your father tends the sheep, your mother shakes the little tree, and down there falls a little dream. Sleep, little child, sleep!
#Schlaf, Kindlein, Schlaf at a glance
- Country of origin
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- Sung in
- German
- Words by
- Traditional
- First known
- first verse 1611
- Best for ages
- 2–7
- Mood
- lullaby
- Last updated
- 25 July 2026
Meaning and origin
This is one of the oldest cradle songs still sung in German, and one of the most tender. Its world is entirely pastoral: the father is out minding the sheep, the mother gently shakes a little tree, and from its branches a small dream drifts down onto the sleeping child. Nothing happens, and nothing needs to — the whole song is a hushing, its long soft vowels doing the work of sleep.
Its roots run deep. The first verse was written down as early as 1611 by the composer Melchior Franck, which makes it one of the most anciently attested of all German children’s songs. It reached a wide public two centuries later, when Clemens Brentano gathered it — with further verses added — into “Des Knaben Wunderhorn” (1808), the great Romantic-era collection of German folk song.
The melody most people sing came a little earlier, composed by Johann Friedrich Reichardt in 1781. He gave the same tune to another children’s song, “Maikäfer flieg”, so the two are musical twins. Layer by layer — a verse from 1611, a tune from 1781, more verses by 1808 — the lullaby was assembled over centuries, and has been quietly sending children to sleep ever since.
Common questions
- What does "Schlaf, Kindlein, schlaf" say?
- It is a soft pastoral lullaby: sleep, little child, sleep — your father is minding the sheep, your mother shakes the little tree, and down falls a little dream. The images of a shepherd father and a dream shaken from a tree make it one of the tenderest of German cradle songs.
- How old is "Schlaf, Kindlein, Schlaf"?
- Very old. The first verse was already written down in 1611 by the composer Melchior Franck. The lullaby became widely known when Clemens Brentano included it, with added verses, in the celebrated folk-song collection "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" in 1808.
- Where does the melody come from?
- The tune usually sung today was written by Johann Friedrich Reichardt in 1781. He used the same melody for another German children's song, "Maikäfer flieg", so the two share a tune.
