Maikaeferchen fliege, Dein Vater ist in kriege, Deine Mutter ist in Pommerland, Pommerland ist abgebrannt, Maikaeferchen fliege. May chafer must fly away home, his father is at the wars, his mother is in Pomerania, Pomerania is all burnt. May chafer in short is the brother of our ladybird. Dr Karl Blind is of opinion that "Pommerland" is a later interpolation for "Holler-land"--the land of Freya--Holda, the Teutonic Aphrodite; and he and other German students of mythology see in the conflagration an allusion to the final end and doom of the kingdom of the gods. It is pointed out that the ladybird was Freya's messenger, whose business it was to call the unborn from their tranquil sojourn amongst celestial flowers, into the storms of human existence. There is an airy May chafer song in Alsace--Teutonic in tradition, though French in tongue: Avril, tu t'en vas, Car Mai vient la-bas, Pour balayer ta figure De pluie, aussi de froidure. Hanneton, vole! Hanneton, vole! Au firmament bleu Ton nid est en feu, Les Turcs avec leur epee Viennent tuer ta couvee. Hanneton, vole! Hanneton, vole! Dr Blind recollects taking part, as a boy, in an extremely curious children's drama, which is still played in some places in the open air. It is an allegory of the expulsion of winter, who is killed and burnt, and of the arrival of summer, who comes decked with flowers and garlands. The children repeat: Now have we chased death away, And we bring the summer weather; Summer dear and eke the May, And the flowers all together: Bringing summer we are come, Summer tide and sunshine home.