Today’s guest post was originally published in December 2013 in The News Observer column THROUGH MOUNTAIN MISTS, which is written by Ethelene Dyer Jones.

 

“The Friendly Beasts” Christmas Carol written by Ethelene Dyer Jones

Nowadays, perhaps because of the ‘politically correct’ tone that has pervaded almost every public expression, including the celebration of Christmas, we do not often hear the old, familiar carols we once heard played over the sound system in shopping centers. The blare might more likely now be secular songs about “the holiday,” our current (and acceptable—so as not to offend anyone) terminology for Christmas.

But, running through my mind, from the first of December until the special day we celebrate Christmas—Advent Day, Emmanuel, ‘God with us’—I hum, sing, listen to and enjoy Christmas carols. I hesitate to list my favorite, for all are a part of my humming repertoire, and I really like many, many of them, the music, the lyrics, the thoughts they bring to my mind, and the memories of happy Christmases-past that the carol music invokes.

Lately, “The Friendly Beasts” has become my Christmas carol to hum and sing. I have heard it daily as I visit my friend Tipper Pressley’s “Bling Pig and the Acorn” blog, where she features Christmas Music by “The Blind Pig Gang.” This group is made up of her brother Paul Wilson, lead singer and guitarist [and he alternates playing other stringed instruments, too,]; her father Jerry Wilson, known as “Pap,” guitarist and harmonizing with a fine tenor voice; her twin daughters better known as Chitter and Chatter, harmonizing and also playing guitar and violin:, and, bringing in the depth of sound is Mary Jane Wilson Pressley, “Tipper” herself, on bass guitar. Their rendition of “The Friendly Beasts,” not-too-familiar a carol, has reverberated in my mind since the first day I heard it this year on “Blind Pig.” Their rendition of the carol sent me looking for its origin and history, and this is what I found:

“The Friendly Beasts” is a traditional Christmas Carol dating back to the 12th century in France. Set to the melody of the Latin folk song, “Orientis Partibus,” the song recounts the gifts brought to the Baby Jesus by a donkey, a cow, a sheep, a camel and a dove. The words were translated into English by Robert Davis (1881-1950) in the 1920’s. By the 1930’s it was popular not only in France, where it had originated centuries before, in England and had spread to other countries. It was sometimes called “The Song of the Ass,” or “The Donkey Carol,” or “The Gift of the Animals.” Tradition holds that the idea for the song came not only from the donkey that carried Mary to Bethlehem from Nazareth before Jesus was born, but also one that carried Mary to Egypt when she, Joseph and the Babe went there to escape the decree of Herod that all Jewish babies two and under were to be killed. Many churches observed “Donkey Day” and would actually bring donkeys to church to remind them of the important role that animal held at the time of the birth of Jesus the Lord.

Some artists who popularized the carol in America were Burl Ives in 1952 who sang it in his album, “Christmas Day in the Morning.” Others who have included the carol in their Christmas carol recordings have been Harry Belafonte, and Johnny Cash with Belafonte in their “The Gifts They Gave.” We’ve heard the music and lyrics from Rise Stevens, Danny Taddei, Peter-Paul-and-Mary, Sufja Stevens, Garth Brooks (1992) and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Mitchell, singing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, had the beasts and dove present and heard in the recording.

Perhaps you, as I, often wish you had the words of a tune that plays at your mind’s edge and begs for voice. Here are the words from Davis’s translation. There are other versions, too. I give you the words here so that you can perhaps listen and sing along if you hear “The Friendly Beasts”:

Jesus our brother, kind and good
Was humbly born in a stable rude
And the friendly beasts around Him stood,
Jesus our brother, kind and good.

“I,” said the donkey, shaggy and brown,
“I carried His mother up hill and down;
I carried her safely to Bethlehem town.”
“I,” said the donkey, shaggy and brown.

“I,” said the cow all white and red,
“I gave Him my manger for His bed;
I gave Him my hay to pillow His head.”
“I,” said the cow all white and red.

“I,” said the sheep with curly horn,
“I gave Him my wool for His blanket warm:
He wore my coat on Christmas morn.”
“I,” said the sheep with curly horn.

“I,” said the dove from the rafters high,
“I cooed Him to sleep so He would not cry;
We cooed Him to sleep, my mate and I.”
“I,” said the dove from the rafters high.

“And I,” said the camel all yellow and black,
Over the desert upon my back,
I brought Him a gift in the Wise Men’s pack.”
“I,” said the camel all yellow and black.

Thus every beast by some good spell,
In the stable dark was glad to tell
Of the gift he gave Immanuel,
The gift he gave Immanuel.

“I,” was glad to tell
Of the gift he gave Immanuel,
The gift he gave Immanuel.
Jesus our brother, kind and good.

May your Christmas come trustingly, as it did with the animals gathered in Bethlehem’s stall. And may our gifts be laced with as much sincerity and love as that expressed by the animals in this ancient carol from the 12th century.

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A version of The Friendly Beasts is on Pap and Paul’s Songs of Christmas cd.

Give it a listen-its one of my favorites!

If you’re interested in purchasing one of Paul and Pap’s cds- Songs of Christmas you can jump over to the Blind Pig & the Acorn Etsy Store and pick one up.

Tipper