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by Anonymous / Unidentified Author
Translation

The Ballad of the Cherry Tree
 (Sung text for setting by J. Edmunds)
 Matches base text
Language: English  after the English 
Joseph was a young man,
  and a young man was he,
He courted Virgin Mary,
  the Queen of Galilee.

As Joseph and Mary 
  were walking one day, 
There were apples and cherries 
  aplenty by the way.

Then up spake Mary, 
  so meek and mild; 
'O gather me cherries, Joseph, 
  for I am with child.'

Then up spake Joseph, 
  with his words unkind, 
'Let them gather cherries 
  that brought thee with child.'

Then up spake the little child 
  in his mother's womb, 
'Bow down, you sweet cherry tree, 
  and give my mother some.'

Then the top spray of the cherry tree 
  bowed down to her knee. 
'And now you see Joseph, 
  here are cherries for me.'

Composition:

    Set to music by John Edmunds (1913 - 1986), "The Ballad of the Cherry Tree" [ voice and piano ]

The text shown is a variant of another text. [ View differences ]
It is based on

  • a text in English by Anonymous/Unidentified Artist , "The Cherry-Tree Carol"
    • Go to the text page.

Go to the general single-text view


Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2019-08-03
Line count: 24
Word count: 115

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