King Pharim

King Pharim sat a-musing
And a-musing all alone.
There came a blessed Savior
And all to him unknown.

Saying "Where did you come from good man,
And where did you then pass?"
It was out of the land of Egypt,
Between an ox and ass.

Well if you've come out of Egypt, man,
One thing I fain would know.
Whether a blessed Savior
Sprang from a Holy Ghost.

For if it is true, is true good man,
What you've been telling me,
This roasted cock, that's in the dish,
Shall crow full fences three.

Well the cock soon feathered and he grew soon well,
By the work of God's own hand.
Three times that roasted cock did crow
In the dish where he did stand.

Joseph, Jesus, and Mary
Were traveling further West
When Mary grew a-tired,
She might sit down and rest.

They traveled further and further,
The weather being so warm,
Until they came upon a husbandman
A-sowing of his corn.

"Come husbandman," cried Jesus,
"Throw all your seed away
And carry home your ripened corn ,
That you've been sowing this day."

By there came King Herod ,
With his train so furiously,
Inquiring of the husbandman
Whether Jesus had passed by.

Well the truth it must be spoken,
And the truth it must be known.
For Jesus he passed by this way
Just as my seed was sown.

But now I have it ripened
And some laid in my wain
Ready to fetch and carry
Into my barn again.

"Turn back then" said the captain.
Our labors all in vain.
Tis full three quarters of the year
Since he his seed has sown.

So Herod was deceived
By the work of God's own hand.
No further he proceeded
Into the Holy Land.

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The Watersons got most of this version from The Oxford Book of
Carols. The concluding verses originally appeared on a 19th
century broadside "The Carnal and the Crane."
Child #55
On Topic Records 12TS265
DC