The Cherry-Tree Carol
No: 54; variant: 54A
- JOSEPH was an old man,
and an old man was he,
When he wedded Mary,
in the land of Galilee.
- Joseph and Mary walked
through an orchard good,
Where was cherries and berries,
so red as any blood.
- Joseph and Mary walked
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 most 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 bowed 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.'
- Then Mary plucked a cherry,
as red as the blood,
Then Mary went home
with her heavy load.
- Then Mary took her babe,
and sat him on her knee,
Saying, My dear son, tell me
what this world will be.
- '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.
- 'Upon Easter-day, mother,
my uprising shall be;
O the sun and the moon, mother,
shall both rise with me.'