+The Text.+--As this carol consists of two parts, the first containing
the actual story of the cherry-tree, and the second consisting of the
angel's song to Joseph, I have taken the first part (stt. 1-12
inclusive) from the version of Sandys (_Christmas Carols_), and the
second (stt. 13-17) from W. H. Husk's _Songs of the Nativity_.
+The Story+ of the cherry-tree is derived from the Pseudo-Matthew's
gospel, and is also to be found in the fifteenth of the Coventry
Mysteries. In other languages the fruit chosen is naturally adapted to
the country: thus in Provençal it is an apple; elsewhere (as in the
original), dates from the palm-tree; and again, a fig-tree.
The second part is often printed as a separate carol, and might well
stand alone. Readers of _Westward Ho!_ will remember how Amyas Leigh
trolls it forth on Christmas Day. Traditional versions are still to be
heard in Somerset and Devon.