Browse Carols: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z # The Cherry Tree Carol 8 1. Joseph was an old man And an old man was he, And he married Mary, Queen of Galilee. 2. When Joseph got married, And his cousin Mary got, Mary proved big with child, By whom Joseph knew not. 3. As Joseph and Mary Walk'd through the garden gay, Where the cherries grew Upon every tree; 4. O! then bespoke Mary, With words both meek and mild, 'Gather me some cherries, Joseph, Then run so in my mind; Gather me some cherries, For I am with child.' 5. O! then bespoke Joseph, With words most unkind, 'Let him gather thee cherries, That got thee with child.' 6. O! then bespoke Jesus, All in his mother's womb, 'Go to the tree, Mary, And it shall bow down; 7. 'Go to the tree Mary, And it shall bow to thee, And the highest branch of all Shall bow down to Mary's knee, 8. 'And she shall gather cherries By one, by two, by three,' 'Now you may see Joseph, Those cherries were for me.' 9. O! eat your Cherries, Mary; O! eat your Cherries now; O! eat your Cherries, Mary, That grow on the bough. 10. As Joseph was a walking, He heard an angel sing - 'This night shall be born Our heavenly kind; 11. 'He neither shall be born In housen, nor in hall, Nor in the place of Paradise, But in an ox's stall; 12. He neither shall be clothed, In purple nor in pall But all in fair linen, As were babies all: 13. 'He neither shall be rock'd In silver nor in gold But in a wooden cradle, That rocks on the mould; 14. 'He neither shall be christen'd In white wine nor in red, But with the spring water With which were christened. 15. Then Mary took her young Son, And set him on her knee- 'I pray thee now, dear Child, Tell how this world shall be?' 16. 'This world shall be like The stones in the street, For the sun and the moon Shall bow down at thy feet; 17. 'And upon a Wednesday My vow I will make, And upon Good Friday My death I will take; 18. 'And upon the third day My uprising shall be, And the sun and the moon Shall rise up with me.' "The admiration of my earliest days, for some lines in the Cherry carol still remains, nor can I help thinking that the reader will see somewhat of the cause for it: -- Browse Carols: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z #