Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. (1863–1944). The Oxford Book of Ballads. 1910.

101

101. The Cherry-Tree Carol

JOSEPH was an old man,

And an old man was he,

When he wedded Mary

In the land of Galilee.

Joseph and Mary walk’d

Through an orchard good,

Where was cherries and berries

So red as any blood.

Joseph and Mary walk’d

Through an orchard green,

Where was berries and cherries

As thick as might be seen.

O then bespoke Mary,

So meek and so mild,

‘Pluck me one cherry, Joseph,

For I am with child.’

O then bespoke Joseph

With words so unkind,

‘Let him pluck thee a cherry

That brought thee with child.’

O then bespoke the babe

Within his mother’s womb,

‘Bow down then the tallest tree

For my mother to have some.’

Then bow’d down the highest tree

Unto his mother’s hand:

Then she cried, ‘See, Joseph,

I have cherries at command!’

O then bespake Joseph—

‘I have done Mary wrong;

But cheer up, my dearest,

And be not cast down.

‘O eat your cherries, Mary,

O eat your cherries now;

O eat your cherries, Mary,

That grow upon the bough.’

Then Mary pluck’d a cherry

As red as the blood;

Then Mary went home

With her heavy load.

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 clothéd

In purple nor in pall,

But all in fair linen,

As were babies all.

‘He neither shall be rock’d

In silver nor in gold,

But in a wooden cradle

That rocks on the mould.

He neither shall be christen’d

In white wine nor red,

But with fair spring water

With which we were christenéd.

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!’

place] palace.pall] fine cloth.