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From the website referenced above:

The explanation of the words to Wee Willie Winkie was to teach children to associate every day tasks with their own lives. Before the days of the wireless, television and the Internet great reliance was put upon the Town Crier to pass on the latest news and information. 'Wee Willie Winkie' was the children's version of the Town Crier! The author of the poem was William Miller (1810 - 1872) and the first publication date of the words to Wee Willie Winkie was in 1841.

gayle! thanks for the scots version of wee willie. i love it. so beautiful and such poetry. i like seeing the 2 version side by side.

kathie--- thanks for that. but when i read it, it still sounds like it is about a kid (a wean, a stoorie wean, love it) who cant sleep and is making it hard for his mom. as if the rhyme is intended to lull the kid to sleep, and tell him at the same time that he is making it hard on his mum. (weary is the mother who has a dusty child...)

Wean - pronounced wayne - is still used today by Glaswegians in particular - when referring to children pre-toddler days.

I have always assumed it referred to being weaned.

Another words for a child is "bairn" and many references can be found in the work of Robert Burns and other Scots.

The bairnies cuddle doon at nicht

Wi muckle fecht and din.

"Oh try an' sleep, ye waukrife rogues,

Your faither's comin' in."

They niver heed a word I speak,

I try tae gie a froon,

But aye I hap' them up an' cry

"Oh, bairnies, cuddle doon!"

Wee Jamie wi' the curly heid,

He aye sleeps next the wa'

Bangs up and cries, "I want a piece!"

The rascal starts them a'.

I rin and fetch them pieces, drinks,

They stop a wee the soun',

Then draw the blankets up an' cry,

"Noo, weanies, cuddle doon."

But ere five minutes gang, wee Rab

Cries oot frae neath the claes,

"Mither, mak' Tam gie ower at aince,

He's kittlin' wi' his taes."

The mischief in that Tam for tricks,

He'd bother half the toon,

But aye I hap them up an' cry,

"Oh, bairnies, cuddle doon!"

At length they hear their faither's fit

An' as he steeks the door,

They turn their faces tae the wa'

An Tam pretends tae snore.

"Hae a' the weans been gude?" he asks,

As he pits aff his shoon.

"The bairnies, John, are in their beds

An' lang since cuddled doon!"

An' just afore we bed oorsel's

We look at oor wee lambs,

Tam has his airm roun' wee Rab's neck

An Rab his airm roun' Tam's.

I lift wee Jamie up the bed

An' as I straik each croon,

I whisper till my heart fills up:

"Oh, bairnies, cuddle doon!"

The bairnies cuddle doon at nicht

Wi' mirth that's dear tae me.

But soon the big warl's cark an' care

Will quaten doon their glee.

Yet come what will to ilka ane,

May He who rules aboon,

Aye whisper, though their pows be bald:

"Oh, bairnies, cuddle doon!"

that's great, brit!

'wean' sounds like 'wee one' but in scots.

cuddle doon! i really like these scots' versions.

It's not really a nursery rhyme per se, it is a witty poem (as from the mother) on the trials and tribulations of trying to get three boisterous and mischevious boys to get to sleep before their father came home - and then a gentle reflection on her good fortune to have them.

It is very much in a parochial dialect unique to one part of Scotland.