Abstract
In the second Shepherds' Play, or Secunda Pastorum, No. xIII in the Towneley Cycle of Mystery plays, there is in the closing scene a hymn, 'Hayll, comly and clene! Hayll, yong child!', in which the three shepherds offer gifts to the Child in the manger. The first shepherd says, 'Have a bob of cherys'; the second, 'a byrd have I broght I To my barne'; the third, 'I bryng the bot a ball; I Have and play the withall I And go to the tenys'. These three gifts, in kind and in sequence, are similar to the first three gifts in 'The Riddle Song', made popular in modern times by its inclusion in the collection English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians.l The first verse of the song is: I gave my love a cherry that has no stones, I gave my love a chicken that has no bones, I gave my love a ring that has no end, I gave my love a baby that's no cryen.
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