Changes

During the Medieval and early modern period, it is likely many lullabies we know, such as Rock a Bye Baby and Highland Fairy Lullaby developed. Interestingly, many themes we see in the earliest lullabies remained (Figure 2). As with early societies, fear of the dark and its potential evils on a child seem to prevail in the words of most lullabies. The songs themselves are soothing but lyrics regarding danger, death, and even babies being stolen by thieves are common lyrics in not only the lullabies we know but also those that have been recovered from historical texts. The origin of lullabies such as Rock a Bye Baby are generally unknown; one theory has been that the lullaby originated from observations of Native Americans using tree branches to suspend cradles from. So the fear of branches breaking and a baby falling from a tree is possibly reflected by this observation.We also see more themes of animals, such as counting or singing about sheep, in lullabies that developed in Europe.<ref>For more on origins of some well-known lullabies in the English-speaking and Western world, see: Van der Walt, T., Fairer-Wessels, F., Inggs, J. (Eds.), 2004.<i> Change and renewal in children’s literature, Contributions to the study of world literature</i>. Praeger, Westport, Conn.</ref>

Cross cultural comparisons of lullabies also indicates a fear of the dark and unknown is a common theme in lullabies. For instance, in Iceland Bíum Bíum Bambaló, sung recently by an Icelandic band, is a terrifying lullaby about a face lurking outside and looking at the window. Fear of what is waiting for baby and with the baby possibly taken if the baby goes outside. Even in the New World, lullabies developed to be menacing in their lyrics. For instance, Dodo Titit is a Carribean lullaby that talks about a crab eating a baby. In Brazil, the lullaby Nana Nenê is about an alligator named Cuca that might get the baby if he or she stays noisy or cries. In Indonesia, an old lullaby of uncertain date reflects a roaming giant on the island that searches for crying babies. Interestingly, in Japan, rather than scary themes, lullabies are often more melancholy, reflecting a mother longing or missing her child. Lullabies such as the Itsuki Lullaby reflects a mother missing her child as she is away, although even here there is fear in the lullaby. In this case, the fear is if the mother dies who would take care of the baby. In Malaysia, no harm happens to the baby but baby chicks seem to die in the lyrics during a count down of numbers. Overall, we see a kind of sad or depressing but often frightening theme to lullabies. This also could reflect the melancholy nature of many tunes. In the United States, Hush Little Baby is perhaps among the best known lullabies that developed in the early history of the United States in the southern part of the country. Here, however, the lyrics are not frightful but promise reward for the baby if he or she just goes to sleep. Nevertheless, even here accidents and problems with things breaking seems to happen.<ref>For more on cross-cultural comparisons and reasons for given lullabies lyrics and tunes, see: Achté, K., Fagerström, R., Pentikäinen, J., Farberow, N.L., 1990. <i>Themes of Death and Violence in Lullabies of Different Countries</i>. Omega (Westport) 20, 193–204. https://doi.org/10.2190/A7YP-TJ3C-M9C1-JY45 </ref>