Lyrics
Celotno besedilo pesmi »Vrabček čaka mamico« z angleškim prevodom.
Vrabček čaka mamico, stiska se ob vejo. Mama po proso je šla tja za živo mejo.
#Pa je vrabce srečala, dolgo klepetala, vse proso za sineka sama pozobala.
#English translation
The little sparrow waits for mummy, huddling against the branch. Mummy went for millet off beyond the hedge. But she met some sparrows, chattered a long, long while, and all the millet meant for her son she pecked up herself.
#Rights
The words are by Neža Maurer and are published with the author’s permission under the CC BY-SA licence.
Vrabček čaka mamico at a glance
- Country of origin
- 🇸🇮 Slovenia
- Sung in
- Slovenian
- Words by
- Neža Maurer
- First known
- Poem by Neža Maurer (22 December 1930 – 20 April 2025); anthologised in Sončnica na rami (Mladinska knjiga, 2016)
- Best for ages
- 2–7
- Mood
- calming
- Last updated
- 27 August 2026
Meaning and origin
This is one of the more wistful little poems in the Slovenian nursery, and it works by understatement. A baby sparrow huddles against a branch, waiting, while his mother has flown off beyond the hedge to fetch him some millet. It is a picture of small patience — the little one left behind, trusting that mummy will come back with something good.
And then, gently, the trust is disappointed: mummy meets some other sparrows, falls to chattering for a good long while, and ends up pecking up all the millet — the millet meant for her son — herself. The poem does not scold or dramatise; it simply tells what happened, and lets the small sadness of it settle. That soft ache — a promise not quite kept, a little one still waiting — is very much the tone of folk song, and it is told here at exactly a child’s scale.
The words are not folk material, though, and they are not, as far as we can find, a song: both sources present the piece as a poem and name no melody. It was written by Neža Maurer, born on 22 December 1930 in Podvin near Polzela, who died on 20 April 2025 at the age of 94; RTV Slovenija’s tribute that day said her poems had “touched almost all of us who live in Slovenia”. The text appears in the 2016 Mladinska knjiga anthology Sončnica na rami, and Wikivir publishes it with her written permission under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 licence — which is why it can be given in full here.
Common questions
- What is "Vrabček čaka mamico" about?
- A baby sparrow waiting. He huddles against a branch, waiting for his mother, who has gone off beyond the hedge to fetch millet. But she meets other sparrows, chatters a long while — and pecks up all the millet, meant for her little son, herself. It is a gently sad little tale.
- Is "Vrabček čaka mamico" a song or a poem?
- A poem. Both sources we retrieved — Wikivir and the Ventilator besed literary site, which takes it from the 2016 anthology "Sončnica na rami" — present it as a poem by Neža Maurer and name no composer or melody. We have not found a published tune, so it is included here as a poem for reading or reciting, not as a lullaby with a known melody.
- Who wrote "Vrabček čaka mamico"?
- The Slovenian poet Neža Maurer, who wrote a great deal for children. She was born on 22 December 1930 in Podvin near Polzela and died on 20 April 2025, aged 94, as RTV Slovenija reported that day. Wikivir publishes the text with her written permission under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 licence.
