I know the English version, but not the German. I've sometimes wondered whether Blake had it in his mind when he wrote his poem about the emmet (ant), which begins:

Once a dream did weave a shade
O'er my angel-guarded bed,
That an emmet lost its way
Where on grass methought I lay.

Troubled, wildered, and forlorn,
Dark, benighted, travel-worn,
Over many a tangle spray,
All heart-broke, I heard her say:

'Oh my children! do they cry,
Do they hear their father sigh?
Now they look abroad to see,
Now return and weep for me.'

But many nursery rhymes are far from reassuring. 'Rock a bye Baby' is frankly alarming - you might as well sing 'Long Lankin' to your children. (Come to that, I did.)