4.
4.3 ‘mown’ = can or may.
Blyssid be the tyme
that appil take was!
Therfore we mown syngyn
Deo gracias.
SAINT STEPHEN AND KING HEROD
The Text is taken from the same manuscript as the last. This manuscript is ascribed, from the style of handwriting, to the reign of Henry VI. The ballad is there written without division into stanzas in twenty-four long lines.
The Story .—The miraculous resuscitation of a roast fowl (generally a cock, as here), in confirmation of an incredible prophecy, is a tale found in nearly all European countries. Originally, we find, the miracle is connected with the Passion, not the Nativity. See the [Carnal and the Crane].