& weddyth no wyff, in no kynnys wyse.
Alas! Alas! my name is shent;
All men may me now dyspyse,
& seyn olde cokwold.
Mary tries to explain and says that her child is from God alone and that she was so informed by an angel. The suspicious Joseph will not be deceived, and gives way to some words that have since been accepted as a true explanation of the miraculous conception:
Jos.
An A’gel! alas, alas! fy for schame!
Ye syn now, in that ye to say;
To puttyn an A’ngel in so gret blame.
Alas, alas! let be do way;