FOOTNOTES:
[5] Carnal, cornicula, corneille, might be thought to have been long obsolete from the word not occurring in ordinary dictionaries, if in any: but it is hazardous to build conclusions on the omissions of dictionaries.
[6] As, Horstmann, Altenglische Legenden, 1875, p. 4, 1878, pp 101, 112; Cursor Mundi, 11, 629 ff, Morris, II, 660; Fornsvenskt Legendarium, p. 71; Feifalik, Kindheit Jesu, p. 103; Schade, Liber de Infantia, etc., p. 38, and note 226; etc.
[7] In Cursor Mundi, v. 12, 323 ff, II, 707, the sowing is according to the Apocrypha. In Luzel's Breton Ballads, I, 80/81, the Virgin, to keep a poor widow from killing one of her children to feed two others, makes corn sown at Christmas in early morning ripen before day.
[8] Joseph stops a moment to speak to the sower, asks the direct road to Egypt, and begs that if any inquiry is made he will say that nobody has passed that way. The sower is not punctilious, and answers, Je le feray très volontiers, que je voy bien qu'estez prodoms. The Swede is scrupulous. When the Virgin says, If anybody asks after us, say that you have seen nobody, he replies, I have promised my God never to tell a lie, "thinking she was only a lady." In the Wendish ballad the Virgin's demand is simply, If the Jews pass, conceal me not, reveal me not.
[9] In one Provençal version, Arbaud, II, 245 f, Joseph and Mary ask a man at work in the fields to save them from Herod, and he tells them to hide under mint. The mint depresses its leaves so as to afford no concealment. For this the mint is cursed; though it flower, it shall not seed. The good man then tells them to hide under sage; the sage stretches itself out to cover them. The mint betrays the Virgin in many of the Catalan ballads: She is under the stack! The salvia answers in Milá, C, 'ment la menta y mentirá.' In D parsley is the good plant: the mint is cursed with barrenness as before. In Milá, J, the partridge (one symbol of the devil) sings: Catxacatatxá! Sota la garbera la Mare de Deu está! for which its head is cursed, never to be eaten. So Briz, IV, 69.
[56]
DIVES AND LAZARUS
[A]. 'Dives and Lazarus.' a. Sylvester's Christmas Carols, p. 50. b. Husk, Songs of the Nativity, p. 94.
[B]. 'Diverus and Lazarus,' F. S. L., in Notes and Queries, Fourth Series, III, 76.