The Friendly Beasts

Representative Text

1 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.

2 "I," said the donkey, shaggy and brown,
"I carried his mother uphill and down;
I carried his mother to Bethlehem town.
I," said the donkey, shaggy and brown.

3 "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.

4 "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.

5 "I," said the dove from the rafters high,
"I cooed him to sleep that he should not cry;
we cooed him to sleep, my mate and I.
I," said the dove from the rafters high.

6 Thus every beast by some good spell,
in the stable dark was glad to tell
how they gave their gift to Emmanuel;
the gift they gave Emmanuel.

Source: Community of Christ Sings #412

Translator: Robert Davis

(no biographical information available about Robert Davis.) Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Jesus our brother, strong and good
Title: The Friendly Beasts
Original Language: French
Translator: Robert Davis
Meter: 8.9.9.8
Source: Traditional English carol; 12th cent. French carol
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Timeline

Media

The Cyber Hymnal #1614
  • Adobe Acrobat image (PDF)
  • Noteworthy Composer score (NWC)
  • XML score (XML)

Instances

Instances (1 - 11 of 11)
Text

Community of Christ Sings #412

TextPage Scan

Hymns for a Pilgrim People #98

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Singing Our Faith #115

Text

Singing the Living Tradition #243

TextPage Scan

The Book of Praise #150

TextScoreAudio

The Cyber Hymnal #1614

TextPage Scan

The New Century Hymnal #138

TextAudio

The United Methodist Hymnal #227

The United Methodist Hymnal Music Supplement #261

Voices United #56

TextPage Scan

Worship in Song #78

Include 27 pre-1979 instances
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