The children

Götz: Children

Kruspe: Children

The mother sits smiling with her two children, but does not see what the children see: Two deaths that come in to seize the children.

On the wall hangs a painting, but this is different in the two reproductions. Schröer interprets the painting in Kruspe's drawing (right) as "the angel of death with burning torch. In front of him two sitting, naked child figures".

Lübeck: Death swings his scythe over the sleeping child

Der Tod zum Kinde:
Nimm, zarter Säugling, an den frühen Sensenschlag
Und schlaf hernach vergnügt bis an den jüngsten Tag!
Wohl dem, der zeitig fällt in meine dürren Hände,
So krönt der Anfang schon ein hochbeglücktes Ende.

Death to the Child:
Take, tender infant, the early stroke of the scythe,
and then sleep happily until the last day!
Blessed is he who falls early into my dry hands.
Then the beginning crowns a most happy end.

Das Kind:
Nicht wundre dich, o Mensch, dass auch der Erden Last
Ein kaum gebornes Kind in seinen Umkreis fasst.
Der augenlose Tod kennt weder Stand noch Jahre,
Es ist ein einz'ger Schritt von der Wiege zu der Bahre.

The Child:
Do not be surprised, oh man, that the earth's burden
catches a child barely born in its circle.
Eyeless Death knows neither rank nor years.
It is a single step from the cradle to the bier.

Death's verse, »Nim zarter Säugling […]«, is the same as Death's verse to the child in Lübeck. This verse is one of Nathanael Schlott's most successful, but unfortunately it does not fit the picture in Erfurt, where there is more than one child, the child does not sleep peacefully in a cradle, and Death does not swing a scythe.