蜗牛与黄鹂鸟 (Wōniú Yǔ Huánglí Niǎo): "The Snail and the Oriole" Children's Song

Quick answer: 蜗牛与黄鹂鸟 (Wōniú Yǔ Huánglí Niǎo, "The Snail and the Oriole") tells the story of a snail slowly, patiently climbing a grapevine while a bird on a branch above laughs at how long it's taking. It's one of the few songs in this collection with a built-in moral — keep going, even when someone else thinks you're too slow — set to a melody gentle enough to work as a wind-down song too.

The lyrics

Chinese	Pinyin	English
门前一棵葡萄树	Ménqián yì kē pútáo shù	In front of the door, a grapevine,
嫩嫩绿芽刚发出	Nènnèn lǜyá gāng fāchū	Tender green shoots just sprouting,
蜗牛背着那重重的壳呀	Wōniú bēi zhe nà zhòngzhòng de ké ya	The snail carries its heavy shell,
一步一步地往上爬	Yí bù yí bù de wǎng shàng pá	Climbing up, one step at a time.
树上两只黄鹂鸟	Shù shàng liǎng zhī huánglí niǎo	Two orioles up in the tree,
阿呀阿呀在笑它	Ā ya ā ya zài xiào tā	Laughing at the snail,
葡萄成熟还早得很哪	Pútáo chéngshú hái zǎo de hěn na	"The grapes are far from ripe,
现在上来干什么	Xiànzài shàng lái gàn shénme	Why climb up now?"

Where it comes from

蜗牛与黄鹂鸟 is widely understood to be a Taiwanese children's song that spread across the Mandarin-speaking world and became a familiar part of kindergarten and elementary song collections well beyond Taiwan. Its lasting popularity likely comes down to how clean the story is: a slow, heavy-shelled snail sets out to reach the grapes at the top of a vine; a pair of orioles on a branch laugh and tell it not to bother, since the grapes won't ripen for a long time yet; the snail's answer, in later verses, is essentially that it will simply keep climbing — and by the time it arrives, the grapes will be ready.

It's one of the few songs on this list built around an explicit lesson rather than just an image or a game, which makes it a nice one to return to as your child gets old enough to actually talk about the story, not just sing along to the melody.

How to sing it with your baby

• Newborn – 6 months: The melody is slow and a little wistful compared to the more upbeat songs in this collection, which makes it a reasonable option for quieter, wind-down moments alongside actual lullabies.
• 6–18 months: Use your fingers to "climb" slowly up baby's arm on "一步一步地往上爬" (yí bù yí bù de wǎng shàng pá, "climbing up, one step at a time") — the steady, repeated motion pairs naturally with the steady rhythm of the line.
• 18 months+: Talk through the story in simple terms afterward — the snail is slow, the bird laughs, but the snail keeps going anyway. This is an easy, low-pressure way to introduce the idea of not giving up, using a story your toddler already has the tune for.

Continue building your song list

This is one of the songs in the collection of Chinese lullabies and nursery rhymes on Twiglet Tales — browse the full set for more songs at every stage, or see the Growth Roadmap for a staged plan beyond songs alone.