Sleep, my moon, my baby sleep! 
    The Pleiades bright their watches keep. 
    The Libra shines so fair and clear,
    The stars are shining, hush my dear!

There is not much music in the tunes they sing to these words.  The airs generally are plaintive and monotonous, and have a sad and weary sound.

Here is another: 

    My boy, my moon, I bid you good morrow! 
    Who wishes you peace shall know no sorrow! 
    Whom you salute, his earth is like heaven,
    His care relieved, his sin forgiven!

She says that last line is extravagant, and I think as much.  The next one is a Moslem lullaby.

    O Lord of the heavens, Knowing and Wise,
    Preserve my Ali, the light of my eyes! 
    Lord of high heaven, Compassionate! 
    Keep my dear boy in every state!

This one is used by the women of all the sects, but in all of the songs the name is changed to suit the name of the baby to whom the mother is singing,

    Ali, your eyes are sleeping,
    But God’s eyes never sleep: 
    Their hours of lonely weeping
    None can forever keep. 
    How sweet is the night of health,
    When Ali sleeps in peace! 
    Oh may such nights continue,
    Nor ever, ever cease!

Among all the scores of nursery songs, I have heard only a very few addressed to girls, but some of these are beautiful.  Hear Katrina sing this one: 

    Lulu dear the house is bright,
    With your forehead’s sunny light;
    Men your father honor now
    When they see your lovely brow. 
    If father comes home sad and weary,
    Sight of you will make him cheery.

The “fuller’s soap” mentioned in Malachi 3:2, is the plant called in Arabic “Ashnan or Shenan,” and the Arabs sometimes use it in the place of soap.  The following is another song addressed to a baby girl: 

    Come Cameleer, as quick as you can,
    And make us soap from the green “Shenan,”
    To bathe our Lulu dear;
    We’ll wash her and dress her,
    And then we’ll caress her,
    She’ll sleep in her little sereer. (cradle)

This song is sung by the Druze women to their baby girls: 

    Your eye is jet black, and dark are its lashes,
    Between the arched brows, like a crescent it flashes;
    When painted with “kohl” ’tis brighter by far,
    Than the full-orbed moon or the morning star.

The following is supposed to be addressed by a Druze woman to her neighbor who has a daughter of marriageable age, when she is obliged to veil her face: 

    Hide your daughter, veil her face,
    Neighbor, do not tarry: 
    For my Hanna is of age,
    Says he wants to marry. 
    When I asked about his choice,
    Said he was not needy: 
    But that if he ever wed,
    He thought he’d like Fereedy.

The next one is also Druze and purely Oriental: