Hoppe, Hoppe, Reiter
German Nursery Rhyme
Original Lyrics
Hoppe, hoppe Reiter,Wenn er fällt, dann schreit er.Fällt er in den Graben,Fressen ihn die Raben.Fällt er in den Sumpf,Macht der Reiter plumps.
English Translation
Bounce, bounce, rider,If he falls, he cries out.If he falls into the ditch,The ravens will eat him.If he falls into the bog,The rider goes plop.
History and Meaning
“Hoppe, Hoppe, Reiter” is a German Kniereiterlied, a rhyme for pretending to ride a horse while bouncing on someone's knees. The verse imagines a rider tumbling, first into a ditch and then into a bog. The last word, plumps, is the sound of the fall.
What are the German words for the rider and the fall?
Reiter means rider and sounds roughly like RYE-ter. Fällt means falls. Graben is a ditch, Raben are ravens, and Sumpf is a bog or swamp. Listen for the rhyme between Graben and Raben.
How do you play it gently?
Sit with the child supported and make a small up-and-down movement in time with the opening. On plumps, stop and say the word together, or let your own hands make a pretend splash. There is no need to dip the child. For a gentler spoken version, keep the bouncy opening and finish with a cheerful “plop” after a pretend puddle.
The traditional German text follows the six-line form documented in the Lieder-Archiv. The gentler play idea above is an activity suggestion, separate from the recorded words.
Lyrics from nurseryrhymes.info