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| ISBN-13: | 9780486152837 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Dover Publications |
| Publication date: | 10/16/2012 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 544 |
| File size: | 3 MB |
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The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Vol. 2
By Francis James Child
Dover Publications, Inc.
Copyright © 2003 Dover Publications, Inc.All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-486-15283-7
CHAPTER 1
THE CHERRY-TREE CAROL
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.'
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: 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, 1,116, 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.
A
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.'
* * *
B
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.'
* * *
C
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.'
* * *
D
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.
* * *
A. b.
2. When Joseph and Mary
walked in the garden good,
There was cherries and berries,
as red as the blood.
3 is wanting.
48. 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.
And she shall gather cherries,
by one, by two, by three:
Now you may see, Joseph,
those cherries were for me.
138. 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:
B.
b.
22. and his cousin Mary got.
24. by whom Joseph knew not.
31. As Joseph. 32. the garden.
48. 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.
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. 18. When he. 2 is omitted.
After 3:
Joseph and Mary walked
through an orchard good,
Where were cherries and berries,
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.
118. But in fine.
13 1, 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.
CHAPTER 2THE CARNAL AND THE CRANE
'The Carnal and the Crane.' a. Sandys, Christmas Carols, p. 152, Christmastide, p. 246, from a broadside. b. Husk, Songs of the Nativity, p. 97, apparently from a Worcester broadside. c. Birmingham chap-book, of about 1843, in B. Harris Cowper's Apocryphal Gospels, p. xli.
* * *
MR HUSK, who had access to a remarkably good collection of carols, afterwards unfortunately dispersed, had met with no copy of 'The Carnal and the Crane' of earlier date than the middle of the last century. Internal evidence points us much further back. The carol had obviously been transmitted from mouth to mouth before it was fixed in its present incoherent and corrupted form by print.
The well-informed Crane instructs his catechumen, the Crow, in several matters pertaining to the birth and earliest days of Jesus: the Immaculate Conception; the Nativity; the conference of Herod with the Wise Men, including the miracle of the roasted cock; the Flight into Egypt, with the Adoration of the Beasts and the Instantaneous Harvest; the Massacre of the Innocents. Of the apocryphal incidents, the miracle of the cock, sts 10, 11, has been spoken of under No 22. The adoration of the beasts, sts 15, 16, is derived from the Historia de Nativitate Mariæ, etc. (Pseudo-Matthæi Evangelium), c. 19, Thilo, p. 394, Tischendorf, p. 81, and is of course frequent in legendaries of the infancy of the Saviour,, but is not remarkable enough to be popular in carols. The miraculous harvest, by which the Holy Family evade Herod's pursuit, is, on the contrary, a favorite subject with popular poetry, as also, like the bowing of the palm-tree, with pictorial art. I do not know where and when this pretty and clever legend was invented. In the Greek Gospel of Thomas, ch. 12, Jesus sows one grain of wheat, in the Latin Gospel of Thomas, ch. 10, and ch. 34 of the Pseudo-Matthew, a very little, and reaps an immense crop at harvest time; Tischendorf, pp 143 f, 165 f, 97: but this passage would hardly even suggest the miracle in question. In a Swedish carol,'Staffans-Visan,' reprinted from a recent broadside, in Dansk Kirketidende, 1861, cols 35, 36, by Professor George Stephens, and afterwards by Grundtvig, Danmarks Folkeviser, III, 882, the legend of the Cock and that of the Sower are combined, as here. The legend of the Sower is followed by that of the Palm-tree, and others, in La Fuito en Egypto, Arbaud, Chants p. de la Provence, II, 235. Another Provençal version of the Sower is given by Briz, IV, 70; a Catalan at pp 65 and 68, 'Lo rey Herodes;' ten Catalan versions by Milá, 'Herodes,' Romancerillo, pp 6-9, No 10. To these add: 'La Fuite en Égypte,' Poésies p. de la France, MS., I, fol. 226,'Le roi Hérode,' VI, 192; 'De Vlucht naar Egypten,' Lootens et Feys, p. 32, No 20, Hoffmann von Fallersleben, Horæ Belgicæ, Part Ten, p. 22, No 4; 'Die Flucht Maria's,' Haupt und Schmaler, Volkslieder der Wenden, I, 275, No 283; Bezsonof, Kalyeki Perekhozhie, II, 116, No 319. The legend of the Sower occurs also in Le Geu des Trois Roys, Jubinal, Mystères inédits du 15e Siècle, II, 117-131.
It is ordinarily Mary, and not Jesus, who operates the miracle; in the French mystery it is perhaps Joseph. In the Provençal and Catalan ballads the Virgin commonly hides behind a sheaf or a stack, and does not pass on.
(Continues...)
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Table of Contents
Contents
Title Page,Copyright Page,
ADVERTISEMENT TO PART IV - NUMBERS 83-113,
54 - THE CHERRY-TREE CAROL,
55 - THE CARNAL AND THE CRANE,
56 - DIVES AND LAZARUS,
57 - BROWN ROBYN'S CONFESSION,
58 - SIR PATRICK SPENS,
59 - SIR ALDINGAR,
60 - KING ESTMERE,
61 - SIR CAWLINE,
62 - FAIR ANNIE,
63 - CHILD WATERS,
64 - FAIR JANET,
65 - LADY MAISRY,
66 - LORD INGRAM AND CHIEL WYET,
67 - GLASGERION,
68 - YOUNG HUNTING,
69 - CLERK SAUNDERS,
70 - WILLIE AND LADY MAISRY,
71 - THE BENT SAE BROWN,
72 - THE CLERK'S TWA SONS O OWSENFORD,
73 - LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNET,
74 - FAIR MARGARET AND SWEET WILLIAM,
75 - LORD LOVEL,
76 - THE LASS OF ROCH ROYAL,
77 - SWEET WILLIAM'S GHOST,
78 - THE UNQUIET GRAVE,
79 - THE WIFE OF USHER'S WELL,
80 - OLD ROBIN OF PORTINGALE,
81 - LITTLE MUSGRAVE AND LADY BARNARD,
82 - THE BONNY BIRDY,
83 - CHILD MAURICE,
84 - BONNY BARBARA ALLAN,
85 - LADY ALICE,
86 - YOUNG BENJIE,
87 - PRINCE ROBERT,
88 - YOUNG JOHNSTONE,
89 - FAUSE FOODRAGE',
90 - JELLON GRAME.,
91 - FAIR MARY OF WALLINGTON,
92 - BONNY BEE HOM,
93 - LAMKIN,
94 - YOUNG WATERS,
95 - THE MAID FREED FROM THE GALLOWS,
96 - THE GAY GOSHAWK,
97 - BROWN ROBIN,
98 - BROWN ADAM,
99 - JOHNIE SCOT,
100 - WILLIE O WINSBURY,
101 - WILLIE O DOUGLAS DALE,
102 - WILLIE AND EARL RICHARD'S DAUGHTER,
103 - ROSE THE RED AND WHITE LILY,
104 - PRINCE HEATHEN,
105 - THE BAILIFF'S DAUGHTER OF ISLINGTON,
106 - THE FAMOUS FLOWER OF SERVING-MEN,
107 - WILL STEWART AND JOHN,
108 - CHRISTOPHER WHITE,
109 - TOM POTTS,
110 - THE KNIGHT AND SHEPHERD'S DAUGHTER,
111 - CROW AND PIE,
112 - THE BAFFLED KNIGHT,
113 - THE GREAT SILKIE OF SULE SKERRY,
ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS,