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{24} In
Ireland, too, the custom of carol-singing then prevailed.{25} Dr.
Douglas Hyde, in his "Religious Songs of Connacht," gives and translates
an interesting Christmas hymn in Irish, from which two verses may be
quoted. They set forth the great paradox of the Incarnation:--
"Little babe who art so great,
Child so young who art so old, |70|
In the manger small his room,
Whom not heaven itself could hold.
Father--not more old than thou?
Mother--younger, can it be?
Older, younger is the Son,
Younger, older, she than he."{27}
Even in dour Scotland, with its hatred of religious festivals, some kind
of carolling survived here and there among Highland folk, and a
remarkable and very "Celtic" Christmas song has been translated from the
Gaelic by Mr. J. A. Campbell. It begins:--
"Sing hey the Gift, sing ho the Gift,
Sing hey the Gift of the Living,
Son of the Dawn, Son of the Star,
Son of the Planet, Son of the Far [twice],
Sing hey the Gift, sing ho the Gift."{28}
[Illustration:
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT: THE REST BY THE WAY
MASTER OF THE SEVEN SORROWS OF MARY (ALSO ATTRIBUTED TO JOACHIM PATINIR)
(_Vienna: Imperial Gallery_)]
[Illustration:
SINGING "VOM HIMMEL HOCH" FROM A CHURCH TOWER AT CHRISTMAS.


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