Happy Christmas!

via

MARY: This has he ordained of his grace,
My son so young,
A star to be shining a space
At his bearing.

For Balaam told full long before
How that a star should rise full high,
And of a maiden should be born
A son that shall our saving be
From cares keen.
Forsooth, it is my son so free
By whom Balaam gan mean.

JOSEPH: Now welcome, flower fairest of hue,
I shall thee mensk [worship] with main and might.
Hail, my maker, hail Christ Jesu,
Hail, royal king, root of all right,
Hail, saviour.
Hail, my Lord, learner of light,
Hail, blessed flower.

MARY: Now, Lord, that all this world shll win,
To thee, my son is that I say,
Here is no bed to lay thee in.
Therefore, my dear son, I thee pray,
Since it is so,
Here in this crib I might thee lay
Between these beasts two.

And I shall hap thee, mine own dear child,
With such clothes as we have here.
JOSEPH: Oh, Mary, behold these beasts mild,
They make lofing in their manner
As they were men.
Forsooth, it seems well by their cheer
Their Lord they ken.

From The Nativity, l.95-126, in York Mystery Plays: A Selection in Modern Spelling, edited by Richard Beadle and Pamela King (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).