The Nativity, from The York Corpus Christi Pageants

❰

1 2

❱

[Joseph, who left the stable to look for a light, now makes his way back towards the stable.]

JosephAh, Lord God, what the weather is cold,
The fellest freeze that ever I felt;
I pray God help them that is old
And namely them that is unwell,
So may I say.
Now, good God my courage build,
As thou best may.

[A bright light blazes within the stable.]

Ah, Lord God, what light is this
That comes shining thus suddenly?
I cannot say, as have I bliss.
When I come home unto Mary
Then shall I inquire.
Ah, here be God, for now come I.*

MARYYe are welcome, sire.
JosephSay, Mary daughter, what cheer with thee?
MARYRight good, Joseph, as has been ay.*
JosephO, Mary, what sweet thing is that on thy knee?
MARYIt is my Son, the truth to say:
So good is he.
JosephWell is me* I bade* this day
This lamb* to see.

from The York Corpus Christi Pageants fourteenth century

Simplified for modern readers

Translated from ‘York Plays; The Plays Performed by the Crafts or Mysteries of York on the Day of Corpus Christi’ (1885) edited by Lucy Toulmin Smith (1838-1911). Every attempt has been made to keep as much of the original as possible, including the metre and rhyme scheme. With acknowledgments to ‘York Corpus Christi Plays: The Nativity’ (2011) edited by Clifford Davidson for the University of Rochester, New York, USA, and ‘The York Plays: A Modernisation’ by Chester N. Scoville and Kimberley M. Yates, at Purdue University, Fort Wayne, USA.

* ‘Here be God’ is an exclamation, expressing thanks for safely returning to the cave; but unwittingly Joseph says more than he means: for God really is in the cave. ‘For now come I’ means ‘I have arrived back’.

* ‘Ay’ means ‘ever’, and is used in hymns well-known to this day, in phrases such as ‘for ay’ and ‘ay endure’. Mary says she feels as well as she ever has.

* ‘Well is me’ is the opposite of ‘woe is me’ (still a commonly used if humorous expression) and means ‘I am happy’.

“Now well is me,” she said, “that ye be here!
My heart is out of woe.” —
“Dame,” he said, “be merry and glad,
And thank my brethren two.”

The Ballad of Adam Bell, Clym of the Clough, and William of Cloudsley (1550).

* ‘Bade’ (rhymes with bad) is the past tense of ‘bid, ask’. Joseph is glad that his prayers have been heard, and he has lived to see the day that Mary’s child was born.

* The original text has ‘To see this fode’, a wordplay on a Middle English homonym ‘fode’ meaning ‘food’ and also ‘infant’. It is probable that the authors wanted us to think of Christ as a babe-on-arms and also of the body of Christ in the Eucharist — the play was after all being performed on the Feast of Corpus Christi. ‘Lamb’ has been substituted here, as the nearest modern equivalent: we often call small children ‘lamb’, and in the Eastern churches the bread consecrated at the Eucharist is called the ‘Lamb’.

Précis

Meanwhile, Joseph was on his way back to the stable with the makings of fire and light. As he was bewailing the cold December night, and feeling for those who had even less shelter than he did, he saw a dazzling radiance within the shed, and hastening within he saw Mary’s child on her knee.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Précis

Questions for Critics

Tags

Read Next