"Though you are but a maiden's child,
Born in an ox's stall,
Thou art the Christ, the King of Heaven,
And the Saviour of them all
"Sweet Jesus, go down to yonder town,
As far as the Holy Well,
And take away those sinful souls,
And dip them deep in Hell."
"Nay, nay," sweet Jesus mildly said,
"Nay, nay, that must not be;
For there are too many sinful souls,
Crying out for the help of me."
O then bespoke th' angel Gabriel,
Upon one good St, Stephen,[1]
"Although you are but a maiden's child.
You are the King of Heaven."
An old ballad or carol called "Carnal and Crane," seems to embody some curious reminiscences of passages in the Apocryphal Gospels, mixing up with, them other legends. The piece consists of thirty verses of four lines each, and is therefore too long to be quoted entire, but I cannot refrain from giving some portions of it.
Ver. 8. There was a star in the west land,
Which shed a cheerful ray.
Into King Herod's chamber.
And where King Herod lay.
- ↑ That is, St. Stephen's-day, Dec. 26.
