No. 54: The Cherry-Tree Carol
[There are three separate ballads, sometimes combined, that are titled "The Cherry Tree Carol." The first and by far the oldest depicts the bowing of the cherry tree and the gathering of cherries. The second ballad, sometimes titled "Mary Questions," depicts when Jesus is sitting on Mary's knee and is about the prophecies of Jesus. The last ballad usually begins "Joseph was a-walking, And he heard an angel sing" which depicts the the birth of Christ and the manger. Child A, for example is a combination of the first and second ballads. All of Child's ballads (see below) are combination ballads.
Child's narrative (see below) provides little detailed information about the origin of his versions (Aa and Ab) and the complex forms or origins of the ballad. The date of Child Aa (Sandys Carols 1833) is 1767, which was not provided. It is taken from the Davies Gilbert Carol MS, Part I, opposite page 22, in Harvard College Library (MS. HCL 25258 27. 5). On page 1 recto of Part I, Gilbert wrote: "The three Carol-Books bound up in this volume were procured for me by Mr. Paynter of Boskenna from Persons in the Deanery of Burian. I received them from Mr. George John in October 1824 and they were bound together in the course of that year- D.G." R.L. Greene, in E.L.H., VII, pp.234-5, writes: "The care with which the manuscripts are written shows that they were regarded as possessions of some value. The colophons of 'Book B' tell that it was not written by its owner. On page 4 is inscribed: 'JOHN WEBB his Carrol Book 1777,' on p. 19, 'JOHN WEBB'S CARROL BOOK October 19th 1777,' and on page 91, 'JOHN WEBB. HIS BOOK Written by JOHN THOMAS JUNR. o f St. Just October 31st 1777.' There are naive illuminations in water colour and a coloured title page with a head of Christ. 'Book A' is less pretentiously decorated with ruling and pen-work and is dated 1767." [McCabe- 1980]
Clearly there is an older ur-ballad based on the analogue found in the N-Town play, no. 15- the Birth of Christ (also title Nativity) which would be about the miracle of the cherry tree (Christ in the womb) and not about Christ's prophecies (Christ as an infant) which are found in the last half of Child A and B. Child A is a joining of two separate parts (ballads) which had taken place by the mid-1700s. The earliest important analogue (Psuedo-Matthew XX) is about a date-palm and Christ is an infant. These two factors are enough to discount the role of Pseudo Matthew XX in favor of the ballad-like poem of the 15th N-town play written circa 1468 (Halliwell).
In the US and Canada the ballad was not discovered until the early 1900s. According to Kyle Davis Jr. (TBVa 1929): "The finding of the fragment C in Virginia in 1915 was the first evidence that "The Cherry-Tree Carol" still survived in America or had ever existed here in oral tradition." The Davis C version from "an old Negro nurse" likely dates back to around the Civil War (1863) but does not reflect the true age of the older ballad versions in America. The ballad's arrival in the new world may more accurately be traced by two factors: 1) the lineage of the informants and 2) the reference to 'Old Christmas" as found in the last stanza of some versions from the Southern Appalachians.
Sharp B, for example, was taken from Mrs. Jane Hicks Gentry in 1916 whose family history was documented (see: the Hick/Harmon version Lord Bateman) previously in my narrative and notes about other Hicks/Harmon family ballads. The Hicks family arrived on the shore of the James River in the mid-1600s and Samuel Hicks (b.1695) left Tuckahoe Creek (Goochland County, VA) and moved to Tabbs Creek, NC by 1765. His eldest living son, David, moved to Valle Crusis (Beech Mountain) with David's son, "Big Sammy" around 1770s and received a land grant there in 1779. It was "Big Sammy" and his son "Little Sammy" who Council Harmon lived with briefly after Counce's father was killed by a falling tree and his mother moved away with her new husband, a member of the Ward family. "Old Counce" was Jane Hicks Gentry's grandfather and he was one of the purveyors of balladry and "Jack tales." His repertoire remained with Jane and other family members for many generations.
An approximate date of Appalachian versions may be also be calculated by the last verse which in some versions mentions Old Christmas, a tradition dating back hundreds of years in the Southern mountains. According to McCabe (1980 thesis):
'Old Christmas Day' was created by the Gregorian Calendar Reform in September 1756, when ten days were dropped from the calendar. Since then some country people in England and America have tenaciously celebrated Christmas on the old day[150], which fell on 5 January between 1752 and 1799, and 6 January after 1800, when yet another day was lost from the official calendar[151]. The most common dates in the South Appalachian variants are 5 January[152] and 6 January [153], which suggests that the South Appalachian ending was first composed in the late eighteenth century, revised in the nineteenth century, and then left unchanged, since no variant records the date of Old Christmas in the twentieth century, 7 January.
The Sharp/Karpeles notes in the 1932 edition of EFSSA add this similar comment:
"The references to the birthday do not appear in the English texts. It is of interest that the date is given in texts B and C as 'the fifth day of January' which according to ' Old Style' reckoning was the date of Christmas Day between the years 1752 and 1799. In 1751, when a change in the calendar had become expedient, eleven days were dropped out between September 2nd and 14th, 1752, thus making January 5th the date of Old Christmas Day, In 1800, another day was taken from the calendar, and in 1900 still another, so that Old Christmas Day now falls on January 7th, In Miss McGill's version the date is given as the 6th of January."
Both Sharp(1917, version C) and McGill (1914) collected an ancient version from the same informant William Wooten, who learned it from his grandmother. Since his grandmother died in 1887 at a very advanced age, this version dates back to the early 1800s.
* * * *
The "bowing of the tree" is found in the gospel of Pseudo-Matthew (referenced above), a Latin compilation of the eighth or ninth century which includes much material from the Protevangelium [Child/McCabe]. From Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, Chapter 20 come the The Miracle of the Instantaneous Harvest:
And it came to pass on the third day of their journey, while they were walking, that the blessed Mary was fatigued by the excessive heat of the sun in the desert; and seeing a palm tree, she said to Joseph: Let me rest a little under the shade of this tree. Joseph therefore made haste, and led her to the palm, and made her come down from her beast. And as the blessed Mary was sitting there, she looked up to the foliage of the palm, and saw it full of fruit, and said to Joseph: I wish it were possible to get some of the fruit of this palm. And Joseph said to her: I wonder that thou sayest this, when thou seest how high the palm tree is; and that thou thinkest of eating of its fruit. I am thinking more of the want of water, because the skins are now empty, and we have none wherewith to refresh ourselves and our cattle. Then the child Jesus, with a joyful countenance, reposing in the bosom of His mother, said to the palm: O tree, bend thy branches, and refresh my mother with thy fruit. And immediately at these words the palm bent its top down to the very feet of the blessed Mary; and they gathered from it fruit, with which they were all refreshed. And after they had gathered all its fruit, it remained bent down, waiting the order to rise from Him who bad commanded it to stoop. Then Jesus said to it: Raise thyself, O palm tree, and be strong, and be the companion of my trees, which are in the paradise of my Father; and open from thy roots a vein of water which has been hid in the earth, and let the waters flow, so that we may be satisfied from thee. And it rose up immediately, and at its root there began to come forth a spring of water exceedingly clear and cool and sparkling. And when they saw the spring of water, they rejoiced with great joy, and were satisfied, themselves and all their cattle and their beasts. Wherefore they gave thanks to God. [Source: Benjamin Harris Cowper, Trans., "The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, or Of The Infancy of Mary and of Jesus," in The Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ. 2nd Edition (London: Williams and Norgate, 1867), Part II, Chapter XX, p. 59.]
Five hundred years after this ninth century psuedo-gospel compilation came a cycle of medieval plays based on the gospel that are now called "The N-Town Plays." Once called the Hegge Cycle and the Ludus Coventriae cycle, these 42 medieval plays were written from between 1468 and 1500. N, meaning nomen, the Latin for name, would be the name of the town the cycle was playing in at any given time. The "date tree" was now a "cherry tree" and Jesus now performed the miracle from the womb of Mary as in the carol. In the 15th play based on the nativity (birth of Christ) comes an early form of the Cherry-Tree carol beginning on line 22:
Play 15: The Nativity [This text was prepared by comparing Peter Meredith and Stanley J. Kahrl' s The N-Town Plays: A Facsimile of British Library MS Cotton Vespasian D VIII (Leeds, 1977) with Stephen Spector's The N-Town Play: Cotton MS Vespasian D. 8 (EETS: Oxford, 1991)].
[The setting is: Mary and Joseph are traveling from Egypt to Bethlehem and Mary is "great with child." Joseph is impatient and anxious to get to the city (Bethlehem).]
22 Now latt us forth wende as fast as we may,
23 And almyghty God spede us in oure jurnay.
24 MARIA A, my swete husbond, wolde 3e telle to me
25 What tre is 3on standynge vpon 3on hylle?
26 JOSEPH Forsothe, Mary, it is clepyd a chery tre;
27 In tyme of 3ere 3e myght fede 3ow þeron 3oure fylle.
28 Turne ageyn, husbond, and beholde 3on tre,
29 How þat it blomyght now so swetly.
30 JOSEPH Cum on, Mary, þat we worn at 3on cyté,
31 Or ellys we may be blamyd, I telle 3ow lythly.
32 MARIA Now, my spowse, I pray 3ow to behold
33 How þe cheryes growyn vpon 3on tre.
34 For to haue þerof ryght fayn I wold,
35 And it plesyd 3ow to labore so mech for me.
36 JOSEPH 3oure desyre to fulfylle I xal assay, sekyrly.
37 Ow! To plucke 3ow of these cheries, it is a werk wylde!
38 For þe tre is so hy3 it wol not be lyghtly--
39 þerfore lete hym pluk 3ow cheryes begatt 3ow with childe!
40 Now, good Lord, I pray the, graunt me þis boun,
41 To haue of þese cheries and it be 3oure wylle.
42 Now I thank it God, þis tre bowyth to me down!
43 I may now gaderyn anowe and etyn my fylle.
44 JOSEPH Ow! I know wey! I haue offendyd my God in Trinyté
45 Spekyng to my spowse these vnkynde wurdys.
46 For now I beleve wel it may non other be
47 But þat my spowse beryght þe Kyngys Son of Blys;
48 He help us now at oure nede.
I've roughly translated this with help from my friends at Mudcat:
22 Now let us go forth, traveling as fast as we can,
23 And Almighty God speed us on our journey.
24 MARY: O my sweet husband would you tell me,
25 What is that tree standing upon yon hill?
26 JOSEPH In truth, Mary, it is called a cherry tree;
27 In season you might find berries and eat your fill
28 MARY: Turn again, husband, and behold yon tree,
29 How that it blooms now so sweetly.
30 JOSEPH: Come along Mary, so we might be at yonder city,
31 If not, I suggest reluctantly, it will be our own fault.
32 MARY: Now my spouse, I pray you to behold,
33 How the cherries grow on yon tree.
34 I would like to have ripe berries,
35 And if you wouldn't mind getting them for me.
36 I will try to fulfill your desires, absolutely,
37 Oh! to pluck one of these berries, it's difficult work
38 For the tree is so high, it would not be possible
39 Therefore let him pluck cherries, who fathered your child.
40 MARY Now dear Lord, I pray Thee, grant me this wish
41 To have some of these cherries, if it be your will,
42 Now I thank God, this tree bows down to me,
43 I may now gather all, and eat my fill.
44 JOSEPH Oh! I understand! I have offended God, the Trinity
45 Speaking to my spouse these unkind words.
46 For I believe now and it may not be otherwise,
47 But that my spouse will birth the Son of Bliss
48 Help us now in our time of need.
This play was first published in 1841 by James Orchard Halliwell, ed., Ludus Coventriæ. A Collection of Mysteries, Formerly Represented at Coventry on the Feast of Corpus Christi in London for the Shakespeare Society; Mystery XV, as "The Birth of Christ," pp. 145-155.
In content and form this play resembles a "ballad" poem and it is clearly the closest extant analogue of the ballad. Child in his narrative(headnotes) mentions this "fifteenth of the Coventry Mysteries, ed. Halliwell, p. 146" but does reproduce the text or give any details. Some of the motifs (for example, when 1. Jesus commands that the tree bow down, and 2. the top of the tree bows to Mary's knee) found in the ballad (Child 54) are found in Pseudo-Matthew and similar Middle English poems, but not in the N-Town play.
The depiction as found in the play is the first part of the Carol, the bowing of the tree, and the picking of cherries. The first part happens when Jesus is in the womb. The second part of the carol gives the prophecies of Christ, who is now a baby sitting on Mary's knee. The second part begins with the stanza "Then Mary took her young Son." An example of the second part is the Easter carol, "Mary's Question," which missing the first part is considered a separate ballad (listed in Bronson's Appendix). Child A and B for example are combinations of the first and second parts. Additionally a third part (usually a separate carol or sequel) where Joseph is visited by an angel may be found. It begins with the stanza "As Joseph Was A Walking" and is usually known as "Joseph and the Angel." (Bronson Appendix).
According to William Studwell, "The truth of the matter is that there are a number of "Cherry Tree" carols so that instead of the very misleading singular form a multiple designation such as "The Cherry Tree Carols," or even better, "The Cherry Tree Carol Series" should be substituted." [The Christmas Carol Reader - Page 41]
The carol was widely printed as a broadside and in chapbooks, the earliest (1770) I'm aware of is:
336. EARLY CHRISTMAS CAROLS. Divine Mirth. Folio broadside. Title in one line. Below the title, and extending across the page are three crude and quaint wood-engravings depicting the Nativity and like scenes. At right and left, extending to the brittom of the sheet, are similar engravings of Saints, six in all. In the center of the sheet, printed in three columns containing a total of about 175 lines, are the texts of the four very ancient "Carols" which, until about a century and a half ago, were somewhat in the nature of a religious folk-lore. The first is the one beginning “God rest you, merry gentlemen.” The second begins: “The moon shines bright.” The third commences: “The first good joy our Mary had.” The fourth (a strange and curious text indeed) begins: “When Joseph was an old man, an old man was he, And he married Mary, the queen of Galilee.”
Printed and sold by T. Batchelar, Long Alley, Moorfields (London, (c. 1770)
For further information besides The Christmas Carol Reader mentioned above, make sure you see Mary Diane McCabe's thesis, A Critical Study of Some Traditional Religious Ballads; Chapter 4 and The Cherry Tree Carol: Its Sources and Analogues- Pamela Royston found attached to my Recordings & info page.
R. Matteson 2014]
CONTENTS:
1. Child's Narrative
2. Footnotes (added at the end of Child's Narration)
3. Brief (Kittredge)
4. Child's Ballad Texts A-D (An additional version is added in Additions and Corrections. Changes for A b and B b-d found in End-Notes.)
5. Endnotes
6. Additions and Corrections
ATTACHED PAGES (see left hand column):
1. Recordings & Info: The Cherry-Tree Carol
A. Roud Number 453: Cherry-Tree Carol (203 Listings)
B. The Cherry-Tree Carol- MacSweeney 1918
C. The "Cherry-Tree Carol" and the "Merchant's Tale"
2. Sheet Music: The Cherry-Tree Carol (Bronson's music examples and texts)
3. US & Canadian Versions
4. English and Other Versions (Including Child versions A-D with additional notes)]
Child's Narrative
A. a. 'Joseph was an old man,' Sandys, Christmas Carols, p. 123.
b. Sandys, Christmastide, p. 241.
B. a. 'The Cherry-Tree Carol,' Husk, Songs of the Nativity, p. 59.
b. Hone's Ancient Mysteries, p. 90.
c. 'The Cherry-Tree Carol,' Sylvester, A Garland of Christmas Carols, p. 45.
d. 'The Cherry-Tree,' Birmingham chap-book, of about 1843, in B. Harris Cowper's Apocryphal Gospels, p. xxxviii.
C. 'The Cherry-Tree Carol,' Bramley and Stainer, Christmas Carols, p. 60.
D. Notes and Queries, Fourth Series, XII, 461.
The proper story of this highly popular carol is derived from the Pseudo-Matthew's gospel, chapter XX; Tischendorf, Evangelia Apocrypha, p. 82; Thilo, Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti, Historia de Nativitate Mariæ et de Infantia Salvatoris, p. 395. What succeeds, after A 9, B 8, C 7, D 6, is probably founded on the angel's words to the shepherds in Luke ii, and on Jesus's predictions in the authentic gospels. This latter portion is sometimes printed as an independent carol, under the title of 'Joseph and the Angel.'[1]
On the third day of the flight into Egypt, Mary, feeling the heat to be oppressive, tells Joseph that she will rest for a while under a palm-tree. Joseph helps her to light from her beast, and Mary, looking up from under the tree, and seeing it full of fruit, asks for some. Joseph somewhat testily expresses his surprise that she should think of such a thing, considering the height of the tree: he is much more concerned to get a supply of water. Then Jesus, sitting on his mother's lap, bids the palm to bow down and refresh his mother with its fruit. The palm instantly bends its top to Mary's feet.
The truly popular carol would be sure to adapt the fruit to its own soil. In English the tree is always a cherry. We have the story also in the fifteenth of the Coventry Mysteries, ed. Halliwell, p. 146 (not omitting Joseph's quip in A 5, etc.), with the addition of a little more miracle: for it is not the season for cherries, and Mary's wish is anticipated by the tree's blooming before she has uttered it. In Catalan and Provençal the tree is an apple. On the way from Bethlehem to Nazareth, Mary and Joseph come upon a gardener who is climbing an apple-tree, and Mary asks for an apple. He politely gives her leave to pluck for herself. Joseph, who this time has not been disobliging, tries, but the branches go up; Mary tries, and the branches come to her:[2] Milá, Romancerillo, p. 3, No 4. Also p. 63, No 55, where again Joseph is molt felló, very crusty; further, Briz, III, 228; Arbaud, Chants populaires de la Provence, 'Lou premier Miracle,' I, 23, and 'La Fuito en Egypto,' II, 237 f. In other legendary ballads, not so entirely popular, the palm-tree is preserved: Meinert, p. 262; Böhme, p. 628, No 523 = Weinhold, 'Weihnachtspiele, p. 385; Lexer, Kärntisches Wörterbuch, p. 310; Feifalik, Die Kindheit Jesu, pp 101, 106 = Pailler, Weihnachtlieder aus Oberösterreich, No 314, p 338 f; Pailler, p. 332, No 310; Hoffmann, Horæ Belgicæ, Part Ten, p. 59; Alberdingk Thijm, I, 212. In Schmitz, Sitten und Sagen des Eifler Volkes, I, 116, and Pailler, as above, No 311, we have a fig-tree. Some of these are very imperfect, or have even lost chief points in the story.
There are many narratives of the childhood of Jesus, based on the apocryphal gospels, in which this legend must needs be found: as, Cursor Mundi, ed. Morris, II, 668 f, v. 11,657 ff; Horstmann, Altenglische Legenden, 1875, p. 6, 1878, pp 102, 112; Stephens, Fornsvenskt Legendarium, p. 71; Pitré, Canti popolari siciliani, II, 333.[3]
Footnotes:
1. A copy of the Cherry-Tree carol in The Guardian, Dec. 27, 1871, is partly compiled "from several ancient sources," and partly composed by the contributor: see "Notes and Queries, Fourth Series, X, 73.
2. Cf. the very naive D 5: 'Mary shall have cherries, and Joseph shall have none.'
3. Liber de Infantia Mariæ et Christi Salvatoris, O. Schade, 1869, p. 38 f, follows almost word for word the Pseudo-Matthew. In note 234 the editor points out pasages where the story occurs in Hróthsvítha, and other mediæval poetry. See, also, Schade, Narrationes de vita et conversatione beatæ Mariæ Virginis, 1870, pp 16, 24.
Brief Description by George Lyman Kittredge
The proper story of this highly popular carol is derived from the Pseudo-Matthew's gospel, chapter xx. What succeeds after A 9, B 8, is probably founded on the angel's words to the shepherds in Luke ii, and on Jesus's predictions in the authentic gospels.
Child's Ballad Texts A-D
'Joseph was an old man'- Version A a; Child 54, The Cherry-Tree Carol
a. Sandys, Christmas Carols, p. 123, West of England.
b. Sandys, Christmastide, p. 241.
1 Joseph was an old man,
and an old man was he,
When he wedded Mary,
in the land of Galilee.
2 Joseph and Mary walked
through an orchard good,
Where was cherries and berries,
so red as any blood.
3 Joseph and Mary walked
through an orchard green,
Where was berries and cherries,
as thick as might be seen.
4 O then bespoke Mary,
so meek and so mild:
'Pluck me one cherry, Joseph,
for I am with child.'
5 O then bespoke Joseph,
with words most unkind:
'Let him pluck thee a cherry
that brought thee with child.'
6 O then bespoke the babe,
within his mother's womb:
'Bow down then the tallest tree,
for my mother to have some.'
7 Then bowed down the highest tree
unto his mother's hand;
Then she cried, See, Joseph,
I have cherries at command.
8 O then bespake Joseph:
'I have done Mary wrong;
But cheer up, my dearest,
and be not cast down.'
9 Then Mary plucked a cherry,
as red as the blood,
Then Mary went home
with her heavy load.
10 Then Mary took her babe,
and sat him on her knee,
Saying, My dear son, tell me
what this world will be.
11 'O I shall be as dead, mother,
as the stones in the wall;
O the stones in the streets, mother,
shall mourn for me all.
12 'Upon Easter-day, mother,
my uprising shall be;
O the sun and the moon, mother,
shall both rise with me.'
-----------
'The Cherry-Tree Carol'- Version B a; Child 54, The Cherry-Tree Carol
a. Husk, Songs of the Nativity, p. 59, from a Worcester broadside of the last century.
b. Hone's Ancient Mysteries, p. 90, from various copies.
c. Sylvester, A Garland of Christmas Carols, p. 45.
d. Birmingham chap-book, of about 1843, in B. Harris Cowper's Apocryphal Gospels, p. xxxviii.
1 Joseph was an old man,
and an old man was he,
And he married Mary,
the Queen of Galilee.
2 When Joseph was married,
and Mary home had brought,
Mary proved with child,
and Joseph knew it not.
3 Joseph and Mary walked
through a garden gay,
Where the cherries they grew
upon every tree.
4 O then bespoke Mary,
with words both meek and mild:
'O gather me cherries, Joseph,
they run so in my mind.'
5 And then replied Joseph,
with words so unkind:
'Let him gather thee cherries
that got thee with child.'
6 O then bespoke our Saviour,
all in his mother's womb:
'Bow down, good cherry-tree,
to my mother's hand.'
7 The uppermost sprig
bowed down to Mary's knee:
'Thus you may see, Joseph,
these cherries are for me.'
8 'O eat your cherries, Mary,
O eat your cherries now;
O eat your cherries, Mary,
that grow upon the bough.'
9 As Joseph was a walking,
he heard an angel sing:
'This night shall be born
our heavenly king.
10 'He neither shall be born
in housen nor in hall,
Nor in the place of Paradise,
but in an ox's stall.
11 'He neither shall be clothed
in purple nor in pall,
But all in fair linen,
as were babies all.
12 'He neither shall be rocked
in silver nor in gold,
But in a wooden cradle,
that rocks on the mould.
13 'He neither shall be christened
in white wine nor red,
But with fair spring water,
with which we were christened.'
14 Then Mary took her young son,
and set him on her knee:
'I pray thee now, dear child,
tell how this world shall be.'
15 'O I shall be as dead, mother,
as the stones in the wall;
O the stones in the street, mother,
shall mourn for me all.
16 'And upon a Wednesday
my vow I will make,
And upon Good Friday
my death I will take.
17 'Upon Easter-day, mother,
my rising shall be;
O the sun and the moon
shall uprise with me.
18 ' The people shall rejoice,
and the birds they shall sing,
To see the uprising
of the heavenly king.'
-----------
The Cherry-Tree Carol- Version C; Child 54- The Cherry-Tree Carol
Bramley and Stainer, Christmas Carols, p. 60.
1 Joseph was an old man,
an old man was he,
He married sweet Mary,
the Queen of Galilee.
2 As they went a walking
in the garden so gay,
Maid Mary spied cherries,
hanging over yon tree.
3 Mary said to Joseph,
with her sweet lips so mild,
'Pluck those cherries, Joseph,
for to give to my child.'
4 O then replied Joseph,
with words so unkind,
'I will pluck no cherries
for to give to thy child.'
5 Mary said to cherry-tree,
'Bow down to my knee,
That I may pluck cherries,
by one, two, and three.'
6 The uppermost sprig then
bowed down to her knee:
'Thus you may see, Joseph,
these cherries are for me.'
7 'O eat your cherries, Mary,
O eat your cherries now,
O eat your cherries, Mary,
that grow upon the bough.'
8 As Joseph was a walking
he heard angels sing,
'This night there shall be born
our heavenly king.
9 'He neither shall be born
in house nor in hall,
Nor in the place of Paradise,
but in an ox-stall.
10 'He shall not be clothed
in purple nor pall,
But all in fair linen,
as wear babies all.
11 'He shall not be rocked
in silver nor gold,
But in a wooden cradle,
that rocks on the mould.
12 'He neither shall be christened
in milk nor in wine,
But in pure spring-well water,
fresh sprung from Bethine.'
13 Mary took her baby,
she dressed him so sweet;
She laid him in a manger,
all there for to sleep.
14 As she stood over him
she heard angels sing,
'Oh bless our dear Saviour,
our heavenly king.'
----------
'O Joseph Was An Old Man'- Version D; Child 54 The Cherry-Tree Carol
Notes and Queries, Fourth Series, XII, 461; taken from the mouth of a wandering gypsy girl in Berkshire.
1 O Joseph was an old man,
and an old man was he,
And he married Mary,
from the land of Galilee.
2 Oft after he married her,
how warm he were abroad,
. . . .
. . . .
3 Then Mary and Joseph
walkd down to the gardens cool;
Then Mary spied a cherry,
as red as any blood.
4 'Brother Joseph, pluck the cherry,
for I am with child:'
'Let him pluck the cherry, Mary,
as is father to the child.'
5 Then our blessed Saviour spoke,
from his mother's womb:
'Mary shall have cherries,
and Joseph shall have none.'
6 From the high bough the cherry-tree
bowd down to Mary's knee;
Then Mary pluckt the cherry,
by one, two, and three.
7 They went a little further,
and heard a great din:
'God bless our sweet Saviour,
our heaven's love in.'
8 Our Saviour was not rocked
in silver or in gold,
But in a wooden cradle,
like other babes all.
9 Our Saviour was not christend
in white wine or red,
But in some spring water,
like other babes all.
End Notes
A. b. When Joseph and Mary
walked in the garden good,
There was cherries and berries,
as red as the blood.
3 is wanting.
43. some cherries.
52. so unkind.
53. the cherries.
61,2. bespoke Jesus in.
64. that my mother may.
71,2. tallest tree, it bent to Mary's.
After 8:
Then Joseph and Mary
did to Bethlehem go,
And with travels were weary,
walking to and fro.
They sought for a lodging,
but the inns were filld all,
They, alas! could not have it,
but in an ox's stall.
But before the next morning
our Saviour was born,
In the month of December,
Christmas Day in the morn.
9-12 are wanting.
B. b. 22. and his cousin Mary got.
24. by whom Joseph knew not.
31. As Joseph.
32. the garden.
43. Gather me some.
45,6. Gather me some cherries,
for I am with child.
51. O then bespoke.
52. with words most.
6. O then bespoke Jesus,
all in his mother's womb;
Go to the tree, Mary,
and it shall bow down.
7. Go to the tree, Mary,
and it shall bow to thee,
And the highest branch of all
shall bow down to Mary's knee.
And she shall gather cherries,
by one, by two, by three:
Now you may see, Joseph,
those cherries were for me.
133. with the spring.
15. This world shall be like
the stones in the street,
For the sun and the moon
shall bow down at thy feet.
(my feet in a Warwickshire broadside: Sylvester.)
17. And upon the third day
my uprising shall be,
And the sun and the moon
shall rise up with me.
18 is wanting.
For 9-13 we have, as a separate carol, in Chappell's Christmas Carols, edited by Dr. E.F. Rimbault, p. 22, the following verses, traditional in Somersetshire: [The same in Christmas and Christmas Carols by J.F. Russell, p. 26. with an additional modern-sounding stanza.]
1 As Joseph was a walking
he heard an angel sing:
This night shall be the birth-time
of Christ, the heavnly king.
2 'He neither shall be born
in housen nor in hall,
Nor in the place of Paradise,
but in an ox's stall.
3 'He neither shall be clothed
in purple nor in pall,
But in the fair white linen
that usen babies all.
4 'He neither shall be rocked
in silver nor in gold,
But in a wooden manger,
that resteth on the mould.'
5 As Joseph was a walking
there did an angel sing,
And Mary's child at midnight
was born to be our king.
6 Then be ye glad, good people,
this night of all the year,
And light ye up your candles,
for his star it shineth clear.
c. 13. When he.
2 is omitted.
After 3:
Joseph and Mary walked
through an orchard good,
Where were cherries and benies,
as red as any blood.
5 is omitted.
6, 7. Go to the tree, Mary,
and it shall bow to thee,
And the highest branch of all
shall bow down to Mary's knee.
Go to the tree, Mary,
and it shall bow to thee,
And you shall gather cherries,
by one, by two, and three.
Then bowed down the highest tree
unto his mother's hand:
See, Mary cried, see, Joseph,
I have cherries at command.
172. my uprising.
173. moon, mother.
174. shall both rise.
18 is wanting, and is suspiciously modern.
d. 11. When Joseph.
12. and wanting.
21,2. When Joseph he had
his cousin Mary got.
24. by whom Joseph knew not.
31. As Joseph.
32. the garden gay.
33, 4. Where cherries were growing
upon every spray.
43, 4. Gather me some cherries,
for I am with child.
5. Gather me some cherries,
they run so in my mind.
Then bespoke Joseph,
with wordes so unkind,
I will not gather cherries.
Then said Mary, You shall see,
By what will happen,
these cherries were for me.
61. Then bespoke Jesus.
63,4. Go to the tree, Mary,
and it shall bow down.
7. And the highest branch
shall bow to Mary's knee,
And she shall gather cherries,
by one, two, and three.
8 wanting.
10 wanting.
113. But in fine.
131,2. He never did require
white wine and bread.
133. But cold spring.
13 precedes 12.
143,4. Come tell me, dear child, how.
15. This world shall be
like the stones in the street,
For the sun and the moon
shall bow down at my feet.
The rest is wanting.
D. 32. to the garden school.
The first stanza is said to have this variation in Worcestershire:
Joseph was a hoary man,
and a hoary man was he.
Notes and Queries, Fourth Series, III, 75.
Additions and Corrections
P. 1. Printed in Bullen's Carols and Poems, 1886, p. 29, with the stanzas in this order: A 1-8, B 8, A 9, B 9-15, B 17. Bullen remarks, As regards the text of this carol, no two copies are found to agree, and one is obliged to adopt an eclectic method: p. 252.
A Dutch carol, keeping the palms, J. A. and L. J. Alberdingk-Thijm, Oude en nieuwere Kerstliederen, p. 174, No 87.
P. 1 b. (Apple tree.) Chanson de la Corrèze, Mélusine, VI, 40.