The Cherry Tree Carol

Child Ballad #54
(Baldwin of Erebor)

D                    F#m         A
Mary and Joseph were walking one day;
     G         D             Bm          F#m
In a garden of cherries they happened to stray;
     G         Bm            D   A7      D
In a garden of cherries they happened to stray.


Mary told Joseph, so meek and so mild,
"Go gather me some cherries, for I am with child;
Go gather me some cherries, for I am with child."

Then Joseph grew angry, in anger flew he,
"Let the father of your baby gather cherries for thee;
Let the father of your baby gather cherries for thee."

Then Jesus, he spoke up from his mother's womb,
"Then bow down, cherry tree, bend low to the ground;
Then bow down, cherry tree, bend low to the ground."

Then the cherry tree bowed down, bowed low to the ground,
And Mary gathered cherries while Joseph stood around,
And Mary gathered cherries while Joseph stood around.

Then Joseph took Mary all on his right knee,
"Tell me, pretty baby, when your birth it shall be;
Tell me, pretty baby, when your birth it shall be."

Mary and Joseph were walking one day;
In a garden of cherries they happened to stray;
In a garden of cherries they happened to stray.


Based on the book of Pseudo-Matthew, in the Apocrypha.  In areas
of Appalachia January 6 is thought of as "Old Christmas" and was
celebrated on that day a couple of generations back:  the
different date can be traced to the change to our modern western
calendar a couple of centuries ago.  (Other versions of this song
have the Christ Child answering that January 6th was his
birthday.)