The Cherry-Tree Carol- (Yorkshire) 1876 Chope
From: Carols for Use in Church during Christmas and Epiphany - Page xix
by Richard Robert Chope - 1876
In England, Christmas carols have survived; the dancing has been divorced from them, and the personations have disappeared. Epiphany carols have completely died out, and are only now being revived. But, probably, Epiphany was never so popular a festival in England as in Germany. The old miracle plays were often founded on the Apocryphal Gospels; little that is apocryphal has found its way into the carols. There is only one which preserves a trait of myth in it, and that, fortunately, is one of the very highest interest.
I was teaching carols to a party of mill-girls in the West Riding of Yorkshire, some ten years ago, and amongst them that by Dr. Gauntlett— "Saint Joseph was a walking "— when they burst out with "Nay! we know one a deal better nor yond;" and, lifting up their voices, they sang, to a curious old strain,—
"Sant Joseph was an old man,
And an old man was he;
He married sweet Mary,
And a Virgin was she.
"And as they were walking
In the garden so green,
She spied some ripe cherries
Hanging over yon treen. [1]
"Said Mary to Joseph,
With her sweet lips, and smiled,
Go, pluck me yon ripe cherries off,
For to give to my Child.'
Said Joseph to the cherry tree,
'Come, bow to my knee,
And I will pluck thy cherries off,
By one, two, and three.' [2]
"And as she stooped over Him,
She heard angels sing—
'God bless our sweet Saviour
And our heavenly King.' "
Hone gives a complete version of the Cherry Tree Carol—the first verses much like those I heard. There Joseph refuses to pluck the cherries, being minded to put Mary away privily; but he is miraculously informed that the tree will do homage to the pure Mother-Maid:
'"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.'
"O! eat your cherries, Mary;
O! eat your cherries now;
O! eat your cherries, Mary,
That grow on the bough."
This scene occurs in one of the Coventry mystery plays (viii.), when Joseph and Mary are on their way to Bethlehem, before the birth of Christ.
1. Raphael's picture of the Madonna giving cherries to the Child will recur to the mind of the reader.
2. Some verses lost.
3. Other versions are given, with other tunes, by Sedding, Sandys, etc.