Old Joseph- Lancaster (NC) c.1922 Brown B
[My title; the title was given as "Song." From the Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore; 1952. The editors notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
15. The Cherry Tree Carol (Child 54)
Of the three carols admitted by Child to his ballad collection this is the only one that has persisted in the folk memory in America. See Davis's headnote in TBV. To the list of its occurrences there given may be added Scotland (LL 45), Hampshire (JFSS in 260), Cornwall (JFSS v 11-12 and 321-2), Saskatchewan (JFSS viii 229-30), Maine (BBM 446, a trace only). Vermont (CSV 48-50), Kentucky (SharpK I 92-4, FSSH 59, JAFL xlix 45-6, LI 15-16), Tennessee (BTFLS viii 78), Florida (FSF 262-3), and Missouri (OFS I 88). In the carol — expressly in some texts, by implication in others — the unborn child speaks from the womb; in the apocryphal gospel from which the story derives the incident occurs, not before the birth of Jesus, but during the flight into Egypt, and the tree is a palm, not a cherry.
B. "Old Joseph Was An Old Man." (Title given was 'Song.') Communicated, probably in 1922, by Mrs. Nilla Lancaster of Goldsboro, Wayne county. This runs fairly close to Child's A version which is from the west of England. The chief differences are in the concluding stanzas.
1. Old Joseph was an old man,
An old man was he.
He married virgin Mary,
The queen of Galilee.
2. As Joseph and Mary
Were walking one day,
'Here are apples, here are cherries,
Enough to behold.'
3. Then Mary spoke to Joseph,
So meek and so mild:
'Joseph, gather me some cherries,
For I am with child.'
4. Then Joseph flew in anger,
In anger flew he:
'Let the father of the baby
Gather cherries for thee.'
5. Then Jesus spoke a few words,
A few words spoke he:
'Let my mother have some cherries.
Bow low down, cherry tree.'
6. The cherry tree bowed low down.
Bowed low down to the ground.
And Mary gathered cherries
While Joseph stood around.
7. Then Joseph took Mary [1]
All on his right knee:
'Oh, what have I done?
Lord have mercy on me!'
8. Then Joseph took Mary
All on his left knee:
'Oh, tell me, little baby,
When thy birth-day will be.'
9. 'On the sixth day of January
My birth-day will be,
When the stars in the elements
Shall tremble with glee.'
1. This version (as found in the Appalachian versions) is different than the English versions. Here, Joseph is putting Mary on his knee and is talking (although it's unclear) to baby Jesus in the womb. Standard English version appears:
When Mary took Jesus,
All on her right knee,