In the Coventry Plays again we find:
"Of a maid a child should be born,
On a tree he should be torn,
Deliver folks that are forlorn."
A genuine carol of the sixteenth century supplies us with the following:
"Jesu, of a maid thou wouldst be born.
To save mankind that was forlorn,
And all for our sins."
And one of the reign of Henry VI.:
"Thy sweet Son that thou hast borne,
To save mankind that was forlorn.
His head is wreathed in a thorn.
His blissful body is all to-torn."
The "Cherry-Tree Carol," formerly a great favorite throughout England, recollections of which yet linger amongst the country-folk, is in many instances a literal copy from the Coventry Mysteries. I give the popular version of the "Cherry-Tree Carol:"
"Joseph was an old man.
And an old man was he.
When he wedded Mary
In the laud of Galilee.
"Joseph and Mary
Walked through an orchard good.
Where were cherries and berries
As red as any blood.
* * * * *
"O then bespake Mary
With words both meek and mild,
'Gather me some cherries, Joseph,
They ran so in my mind.'"
St. Joseph refuses "with words most unkind" to grant her request, apparently unaware that his spouse is about to become the mother of the Son of God. The unborn Saviour, however, directs the Blessed Virgin to
"'Go to the tree, Mary,
And it shall bow to thee,
And the highest branch of all
Shall bow down to Mary's knee.'
* * * * *
"Then bowed down the highest tree
Unto his mother's hand:
Then she cried. 'See, Joseph.
I have cherries at command.'
"O eat your cherries, Mary,
O eat your cherries now,
O eat your cherries, Mary,
That grow upon the bough.'"