I think that he was just a wee bit frightened, says NURSE MARY, but I'll tell you what he did like. You know the little figures of Mary and Joseph and the Christ Child in the manger, that you always set out on Christmas Day, with the cows and the sheep standing all about? The children both nod. Well, when your father saw that, and heard your grandparents and all the older brothers and sisters singing "The Carol of the Friendly Beasts"—just as you will sing it again tomorrow—he held out his hands and danced up and down in my arms. I tell you, I could hardly hold him.
Nurse Mary, says POLLY, won't you sing us "The Carol of the Friendly Beasts" now?
In my old cracked voice? says NURSE MARY. Well, if you will both help me, I'll try.
So the three of them together sing:
THE CAROL OF THE FRIENDLY BEASTS[1]
Jesus our brother, strong and good,
Was humbly born in a stable rude,
And the friendly beasts around him stood.
I, said the cow, all white and red,
I gave him my manger for his bed,