A Christmas Legend
Beneathe an ancient oake one dayeA holye friar kneeled to praye;Scarce hadde he mumbled Aves three,When lo! a voice within the tree!Straighte to the friar’s hearte it wente,A voice as of some spirit penteWithin the hollow of the tree,That cried, “Good father, sette me free!”
Quoth he, “This hath an evil sounde.”Ande bente him lower to the grounde.But ever tho’ he prayed, the moreThe voice hys pytie didde implore,Untyl he raised hys eyes ande thereBehelde a mayden ghostlie faire.Thus to the holy manne she spoke:
“Within the hollow of this oak,Enchanted for a hundred yeares,Have I been bounde--yet vain my teares;Notte anything can breake the banneTill I be kiss’d by holye manne.”
“Woe’s me!” thenne sayd the friar; “if thouBe sente to tempt me breake my vowe;Butte whether mayde or fiende thou be,I’ll stake my soul to sette thee free.”The holye manne then crossed hym thrice,And kissed the mayde--when in a triceShe vanished--“Heaven forgive me now!”Exclaimed the friar--“my broken vowe.
“If I have sinned--I sinned to saveAnother fromme a living grave.”Thenne downe upon the earth he felle,And prayed some sign that he might telleIf he were doomed for-evermore;When lo! the oake, alle bare before,Put forth a branch of palest greene,And fruited everywhere betweeneWith waxen berries, pearlie white,A miracle before hys sight.
The holye friar wente hys wayeAnd told hys tale--And from thatte dayeIt hath been writ that anye manneMay blamelesse kiss what mayde he canneNor any one shall say hym “no”Beneath the holye mistletoe.
Words in this poem
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- manne n.
- A human being; -- opposed tobeast. [AS. mann, man, monn, mon; akin to OS., D., & OHG. man, G. mann, Icel. maedhr, for mannr, Dan. Mand, Sw. man, Goth. manna, Skr. manu, manus, and perh. to Skr. ma]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- notte
- Wot not; know not; knows not. [Contr. from ne wot. See 2d Note.]
- banne v. i.
- To curse; to swear.
- thenne adv.
- At that time (referring to a time specified, either past or future). [Originally the same word as than. See Than.]
- butte n.
- A detached low mountain, or high rising abruptly from the general level of the surrounding plain; -- applied to peculiar elevations in the Rocky Mountain region. [F. See Butt a bound.]
- trice v. t.
- To pull; to haul; to drag; to pull away. [OE. trisen; of Scand. or Low German origin; cf. Sw. trissa a sheave, pulley, triss a spritsail brace, Dan. tridse a pulley, tridse to haul by means of a pulley,]
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- alle conj.
- Although; if. See All, conj.
- canne v. t.
- To know; to understand.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Christmas Legend is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Bashful Earthquake, & Other Fables and Verses, Project Gutenberg ebook #56765; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Oliver Herford, A Christmas Legend, in The Bashful Earthquake, and Other Fables and Verses (1898), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #56765, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herford-bashful-earthquake/a-christmas-legend.html, id L22112.
Form and metre
A Christmas Legend is 46 lines in 6 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 74% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCBB dayeA · prayeA · threeB · treeB · wenteC · penteC · treeB · freeB
- 2 AABBCC- soundeA · groundeA · moreB · imploreB · thereC · faireC · spoke
- 3 ---AA oak · yeares · teares · banneA · manneA
- 4 ABCCDD-AB thouA · voweB · beC · freeC · thriceD · triceD · vanished · nowA · voweB
- 5 AABBCCDDEE saveA · graveA · felleB · telleB · evermoreC · beforeC · greeneD · betweeneD · whiteE · sightE
- 6 A-ABBCC wayeA · tale · dayeA · manneB · canneB · noC · mistletoeC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Beneathe an ancient oake one daye | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A holye friar kneeled to praye; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Scarce hadde he mumbled Aves three, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| When lo! a voice within the tree! | 8 | ········ |
| Straighte to the friar’s hearte it wente, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| A voice as of some spirit pente | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Within the hollow of the tree, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| That cried, “Good father, sette me free!” | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Quoth he, “This hath an evil sounde.” | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Ande bente him lower to the grounde. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But ever tho’ he prayed, the more | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The voice hys pytie didde implore, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Untyl he raised hys eyes ande there | 8 | ········ |
| Behelde a mayden ghostlie faire. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thus to the holy manne she spoke: | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| “Within the hollow of this oak, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Enchanted for a hundred yeares, | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Have I been bounde--yet vain my teares; | 8 | ········ |
| Notte anything can breake the banne | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Till I be kiss’d by holye manne.” | 8 | ········ |
| “Woe’s me!” thenne sayd the friar; “if thou | 8 | ·····/·· |
| Be sente to tempt me breake my vowe; | 8 | ········ |
| Butte whether mayde or fiende thou be, | 8 | ········ |
| I’ll stake my soul to sette thee free.” | 8 | ········ |
| The holye manne then crossed hym thrice, | 8 | ········ |
| And kissed the mayde--when in a trice | 8 | ········ |
| She vanished-- | 3 | ·/˘ |
| “Heaven forgive me now!” | 6 | /˘˘/·· |
| Exclaimed the friar--“my broken vowe. | 8 | ˘/·/·/˘· |
| “If I have sinned--I sinned to save | 8 | ········ |
| Another fromme a living grave.” | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Thenne downe upon the earth he felle, | 8 | ········ |
| And prayed some sign that he might telle | 8 | ········ |
| If he were doomed for-evermore; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| When lo! the oake, alle bare before, | 8 | ········ |
| Put forth a branch of palest greene, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And fruited everywhere betweene | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| With waxen berries, pearlie white, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| A miracle before hys sight. | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| The holye friar wente hys waye | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And told hys tale-- | 4 | ···· |
| And from thatte daye | 4 | ···· |
| It hath been writ that anye manne | 8 | ········ |
| May blamelesse kiss what mayde he canne | 9 | ········· |
| Nor any one shall say hym “no” | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Beneath the holye mistletoe. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
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