The Child

Death to the Child

Kreuch her an du must hy tanczen lern Weyne adir lache ich hore dich gern Hettistu den totten yn dem munde Is hilft dich nicht an desir stunde	Crawl over here. You must learn to dance here. Weep or laugh, I hear you with pleasure. Even if you had the teats in your mouth it wouldn't help you in this hour.

Awe liebe muter meyn Eyn swarczer man czeut mich do hyn Wy wiltu mich nw vorlan Nw mus ich tanczen vnd kan noch nicht gan	Oh my dear mother. A black man drags me away. How can you leave me now? Now I must dance and can't yet walk.

This book exchanges the sequence of mother and child.

The Latin text says "Puer in cunabulo" i.e. "the child in the cradle", but the well nourished boy on the woodcut appears to have outgrown the cradle years ago. We do, however, find "the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes" lying in a cradle behind the mother.

The dialogue is reminiscent of the lost picture from Basel's dance of death. In Basel, the child, who "can't yet walk", has lost his hobby horse on the ground.