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啊，谁给那件小外衫染上颜色的，我的孩子？谁使你的温软的肢体穿上那件红的小外衫的？
你在早晨就跑出来到天井里玩儿，你，跑着就像摇摇欲跌似的。
但是谁给那件小外衫染上颜色的，我的孩子？
什么事叫你大笑起来的，我的小小的命芽儿？
妈妈站在门边，微笑地望着你。
她拍着双手，她的手镯叮当地响着；你手里拿着你的竹竿儿在跳舞，活像一个小小的牧童。
但是什么事叫你大笑起来的，我的小小的命芽儿？
喔，乞丐，你双手攀搂住妈妈的头颈，要乞讨些什么？喔，贪得无厌的心，要我把整个世界从天上摘下来，像摘一个果子似的，把它放在你的一双小小的玫瑰色的手掌上么？
喔，乞丐，你要乞讨些什么？
风高兴地带走了你踝铃的叮当。
太阳微笑着，望着你的打扮。
当你睡在你妈妈的臂弯里时，天空在上面望着你，而早晨蹑手蹑脚地走到你的床跟前，吻着你的双眼。
风高兴地带走了你踝铃的叮当。
仙乡里的梦婆飞过朦胧的天空，向你飞来。
在你妈妈的心头上，那世界母亲，正和你坐在一块儿。
他，向星星奏乐的人，正拿着他的横笛，站在你的窗边。
仙乡里的梦婆飞过朦胧的天空，向你飞来。
Who stole sleep from baby’s eyes? I must know.
Clasping her pitcher to her waist, mother went to fetch water from the village nearby.
It was noon. The children’s playtime was over; the ducks in the pond were silent.
The shepherd boy lay asleep under the shadow of the banyan tree.
The crane stood grave and still in the swamp near the mango grove.
In the meanwhile the Sleep-stealer came and, snatching sleep from baby’s eyes, flew away.
When mother came back she found baby travelling the room over on all fours.
Who stole sleep from our baby’s eyes? I must know. I must find her and chain her up.
I must look into that dark cave, where, through boulders and scowling stones, trickles a tiny stream.
I must search in the drowsy shade of the bakula grove,where pigeons coo in their corner, and fairies’ anklets tinkle in the stillness of starry nights.
In the evening I will peep into the whispering silence of the bamboo forest, where fireflies squander their light, and will ask every creature I meet, “Can anybody tell me where the Sleep-stealer lives?”
Who stole sleep from baby’s eyes? I must know.
Shouldn’t I give her a good lesson if I could only catch her!
I would raid her nest and see where she hoards all her stolen sleep.
I would plunder it all, and carry it home.
I would bind her two wings securely, set her on the bank of the river, and then let her play at fishing with a reed among the rushes and water-lilies.
When the marketing is over in the evening, and the village children sit in their mothers’ laps, then the night birds will mockingly din her ears with:
“Whose sleep will you steal now?”