The Creatures’ Nowel

Where Mary keeps her court
  With the humble and the high,
The little dog has sport
For he is also by.

The creatures of the earth
They have great joy and mirth
On the night of the Great Birth.

The hedgehog and the hare
Are of that Birth aware,
Their timid footsteps go,
Quick, furtive, over the snow,

They come thro’ the cold
The young Child to behold,
In the stable bare.

They have no fear there,
No hurt and no annoy,
But great bliss and joy
With the Baby Boy,
In that safe stable’s shade
With none to make afraid,
To kill or to destroy.

The lamb in his white fleece
Plays with the wolf in peace,
The leopard lies down with the kid,
The ox and the ass they bid
The lion to share their straw;
All creatures tame or wild
Are there with the Little Child;
The ox says ‘moo’ and the ass ‘hee-haw’.