The Cherry-Tree Carol- Hotten 1861 Child B c.
Child give four versions of 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.
He provides the text to B a. and gives the changes from that.
The Cherry-Tree Carol- Hotten 1861 Child B c.
JOSEPH was an old man,
And an old man was he,
When he married Mary
The Queen of Galilee.
Joseph and Mary walked
Through a garden gay,
Where the cherries they grew
Upon every tree.
Joseph and Mary walked
Through an orchard good,
Where were cherries and berries
As red as any blood.
O then bespoke Mary,
With words both meek and mild,
"Gather me some cherries, Joseph,
They run so in my mind."
"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!"
"O eat your cherries, Mary,
O eat your cherries now,
O eat your cherries, Mary,
That grow upon the bough."
As Joseph was a walking
He heard an angel sing:—
"This night shall be born
Our Heavenly King;
"He neither shall be born
In housen, nor in hall,
Nor in the place of Paradise,
But in an ox's stall;
"He neither shall be clothed,
In purple nor in pall
But all in fair linen,
As were babies all;
"He neither shall be rocked
In silver nor in gold,
But in a wooden cradle,
That rocks on the mould;
"He neither shall be christened
In white wine nor red,
But with fair spring water
With which we were christened."
Then Mary took her young Son,
And set him on her knee:—
"I pray thee now, dear child,
Tell how this world shall be?"
"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.
"And upon a Wednesday
My vow I will make,
And upon Good Friday
My death I will take;
"Upon Easter-day, Mother,
My uprising shall be;
O, the sun and the moon, Mother,
Shall both rise with me."
_____________
From: A Garland of Christmas Carols, ancient and modern, ed. by Joshua Sylvester; John Camden Hotten - 1861
THE CHERRY-TREE CAROL
[Mary's desire for the fruit on the cherry-tree, and Joseph's refusal to gather it for her on the return of his jealousy, a singular legend of the dark ages, forms the subject of a Christmas Carol still sung in many parts of the country. The remarkable scene occurs in the fifteenth pageant of the "Coventry Mysteries." Mary says (I give the original phraseology):—
Amy swete husbond, wolde ye telle to me
What tre is yon standynge upon yon hylle?
Joseph. Forsothe, Mary, it is clepyd a chery tre,
In time of yer ye myght fede you y on yo fylle.
Maria. Turne ageyn husbond and beholde yon tre,
How y' blomyght now so swetely.
Joseph. Cum on, Mary yt we worn at yon cyte,
Or ellys we may be blamyd 1 telle yow lythly.
Maria. Now my spouse, I pray you to be hold
How ye cheryes growyn upon yon tre,
For to have y of ryght fayn I wold,
& it plesyd yow to labor so mech for me.
Joseph. Yor desyr to fulfylle I shal assay sekyrly,
Ow to plucke you of these cheries it is a werk wylde,
For ye tre is so hyg it wold not be lyghtly,
Jy for lete hy pink yon cheryes be gatt you w' childe.
Maria. Now good Lord I pray the, graunt me yis boun,
To have of yese cheries, and it be yor wylle,
Now I thank it God, yis tre bowyth to me down.
I may now gadery anowe & eten my fylle.
Joseph. Ow, I know weyl I have offended my God I trinyte,
Spekeyng to my spowse these unkynde wurdys,
For now I believe wel it may now other be
But y' my spowse beryght ye kyngs son of blys, &c.
A writer on Carols has remarked, " the admiration of my earliest days, for some lines in the ' Cherry Carol' still remains, nor can I help thinking that the reader will see somewhat of cause for it." Different versions, with additions and omissions, are given in the modern broadsides. The version here printed has been made after a careful examination of several copies printed in various parts of England. A few verses it was thought advisable to omit, but the sequence of the narrative is supplied by prose explanations.]
JOSEPH was an old man,
And an old man was he,
When he married Mary
The Queen of Galilee.
Joseph and Mary walked
Through a garden gay,
Where the cherries they grew
Upon every tree.
Joseph and Mary walked
Through an orchard good,
Where were cherries and berries
As red as any blood. [1]
Joseph, upon learning that the union with his " cousin Mary" is about to be blessed by a babe, suddenly becomes jealous and unkind. The Carol continues:—
O then bespoke Mary,
With words both meek and mild,
"Gather me some cherries, Joseph,
They run so in my mind."
The next verse gives Joseph's uncouth answer, that if she wants cherries she must ask somebody else to gather them for her, as he is not inclined to do so. The spirit of the unborn Jesus, however, hears the rebuke, and he commands his mother:—
"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!" [2]
Joseph relents at the harsh words he has spoken, and replies :—
"O eat your cherries, Mary,
O eat your cherries now,
O eat your cherries, Mary,
That grow upon the bough." [3]
Time is supposed to have elapsed, and the scene has changed.
As Joseph was a walking
He heard an angel sing:—
"This night shall be born
Our Heavenly King;
"He neither shall be born
In housen, nor in hall,
Nor in the place of Paradise,
But in an ox's stall;
"He neither shall be clothed,
In purple nor in pall
But all in fair linen,
As were babies all;
"He neither shall be rocked
In silver nor in gold,
But in a wooden cradle,
That rocks on the mould;
"He neither shall be christened
In white wine nor red,
But with fair spring water
With which we were christened."
More time has elapsed, and the scene again changes.
Then Mary took her young Son,
And set him on her knee:—
"I pray thee now, dear child,
Tell how this world shall be?"
"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. [4]
"And upon a Wednesday
My vow I will make,
And upon Good Friday
My death I will take;
"Upon Easter-day, Mother,
My uprising shall be;
O, the sun and the moon, Mother,
Shall both rise with me."
Footnotes:
1. Other copies of this Carol supply different versions of these verses. One printed at Birmingham reads :—
"Joseph and Mary walked
In the garden gay,
Where exercises grew
Upon every spray," &c.
2 Another version represents the fruit as previously ordained for Mary:—
" 'Now you may see, Joseph,
Those cherries were for me.'"
3 The version given by Mr. Sandys reads:—
"0 then bespake Joseph,
'I have done Mary wrong,
But cheer up, my dearest,
And be not cast down.'"
Mr. Sandys obtained the Carol from the West country, where everybody, even strangers, are addressed as "my dear."
4. The Warwickshire broadside copy in my possession gives this stanza:—
"This world shall be like
The stones in the street,
For the sun and the moon
Shall bow down at my feet."