[THE same legend that is given in this Carol is to be observed in the more ancient one to St. Stephen. Ritson has inserted the latter in his Ancient Ballads, from an old MS. of the reign of Henry VI.

The Carnal is a bird; the word corrupted by the printer into reign, is the obsolete word rein, formerly used in the sense of run. The composition has other marks of age independent of the legend. Hone terms it a Warwickshire Carol.]

SI passed by a river side,

And there as I did reign,

In argument I chanced to hear

A Carnal and a Crane.

The Carnal said unto the Crane,

"If all the world should turn,

Before we had the Father,

But now we have the Son!

"From whence does the Son come?

From where and from what place?" He said, "In a manger,

Between an ox and an ass!"

"I pray thee," said the Carnal, "Tell me before thou go,

Was not the Mother of Jesus

Conceived by the Holy Ghost?"

She was the handmaid of our Lord,
And Mother of our King."

"Where is the golden cradle

That Christ was rocked in?

Where are the silken sheets

That Jesus was wrapt in?"

"A Manger was the cradle

That Christ was rocked in ;

The provender the asses left,

So sweetly he slept on.

"There was a Star in the West land,

So bright did it appear

Into King Herod's chamber,

And where King Herod were.

“The Wise Men soon espied it,
And told the King on high,
A princely babe was born that night
No king could e'er destroy.

"If this be true,' King Herod said,

'As thou tellest me,

This roasted cock that lies in the dish Shall crow full fences1 three.'

"The cock soon freshly feathered was,
By the work of God's own hand,
And then three fences crowed he,
In the dish where he did stand.

“Rise up, rise up, you merry men all, See that you ready be,

All children under two years old

Now slain they all shall be.'

1 Shouts?

"Then Jesus, ah! and Joseph,

And Mary, that was so pure, They travelled into Egypt,

"And when they came to Egypt's Land,

Among those fierce wild beasts,

Mary, she being weary,

Must needs sit down to rest.

"Come sit thee down,' says Jesus,

'Come sit thee down by me,

And thou shalt see how these wild beasts Do come and worship me.'

“First, came the lovely lion,

Which Jesus's grace did spring,

And of the wild beasts in the field,
The Lion shall be the king.

"We'll choose our virtuous princes, Of birth and high degree,

In every sundry nation,

Where'er we come and see.

"So Herod was deceived

By the work of God's own hand, And further he proceeded

Into the Holy Land.

"There's thousands of children

Which for his sake did die, Do not forbid these little ones,

And do not them deny.

"The truth now I have spoken,

young,

And the truth now I have shown;

How the blessed Virgin,

She brought us forth a Son."