testily replies: "I wonder thou sayest this, when thou seest what a height the palm is … I think more of scarcity of water, which is already failing us in the bottles." … Whereupon "the little child Jesus, sitting with a glad countenance in his mother's lap, saith to the palm, O tree, bend down thy branches, and with thy fruit refresh my mother." The palm accordingly bowed down, and they gathered its fruit; whereat, "Jesus said to it, Raise thee, O palm, and be strong, and be a partner with my trees which are in the paradise of my Father. And open from thy roots a spring of water which is hidden in the earth; and let waters flow forth from it to our satisfying. And immediately it arose, and there began to flow forth at its root a most pure fount of waters, very cool, and exceedingly clear" (see The Apocryphal Gospels, translated by B. Harris Cowper, pp. 59–60).
The Cherry Tree theme, however, is directly founded upon an incident in the Coventry Miracles (Piece xv). Joseph and Mary are on the road to "Bedlem" to be taxed when the following conversation takes place (see Hone's Mysteries, pp. 67–8):—
Maria.—A my swete husbond! wolde ye telle to me,
What tre is yon, standing vpon yon hylle?
Joseph.—For suthe Mary it is clepyd a chery tre;
In tyme of yer, ye myght ffede yow theron yowr fylle.
Maria.—Turn a geyn, husbond, & be holde yon tre,
How that it blomyght, now, so swetly.
Joseph.—Cum on Mary, that we wern at yon Cyte,
or ellys we may be blamyd, I telle yow lythly.
Maria.—Now my spowse, I pray yow to be hold
How the cheryes growyn vpon yon tre;
ffor to have them, of ryght, ffayn I wold,
& it plesyd yow to labor' so mec'h for me.
Joseph.—Yo' desyr to ffulfylle I schall assay sekyrly:—
Ow! to plucke yow of these cheries it is a werk wylde!
ffor the tre is so hy', it wol not be lyghtly
Y' for lete hy' pluk yow cheryes, be gatt yow with childe.
Maria.—Now, good lord, I pray the, graunt me this bonn,
to haue of these cheries, & it be yo' wylle;
now, I thank it god, yis tre bowyth to me down,
I may now gader'y a nowe, & etyn my ffylle.
Joseph then humbles himself, the miracle convincing him that he has offended "god i' trinyte."
Obviously, this is the source of the popular song. The last line of Joseph's last speech is almost word for word the same as the corresponding line of Mrs. Roberts's version.
No. 5. THE MOON SHINES BRIGHT.
Sung by Mrs. Gentie Phillips, a native of Tysoe, Warwickshire, now living at Birmingham.
This carol and The Sinner's Redemption (No. 8), together with many others were sung every Christmas by the Tysoe carol singers.
With the exception of the 3rd stanza the words given in the text are those which Mrs. Phillips and her sister, Mrs. Handy, sang to me. The 3rd stanza,
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