Christmas Eve Ballad By Alf Proysen, Translated Poem by Eyvind Riis

We've carried wood and water, we've lit our Christmas tree.
The robins in our oat sheaves are feasting merrily.
Now let us take a rest; cuddle up, dear, to my lap.
And I will rock the cradle while your brother has his nap.

Let's watch the silent darkness outside and look afar
through our kitchen window, to find the Christmas star.
That star shines brightly over the forest and the snow,
Martha the midwife's cottage roof rests peacefully below.

That star 's so nice and friendly, it's winking, do you see?
Well, now I'll tell a story; you must listen well to me.
When first it lit, a bridge from a humble barn on Earth
to Heaven was created by a little baby's birth.

Inside the barn on straw in a manger lay the child.
His mother fed and warmed him, his father watched and smiled.
The shepherds came to visit, all from the nearby farms,
they carried lambs and kids they were tending in their arms.

Three wise men came to see him from a country far away,
the star had shown their path, and they weren't led astray.
They met the newborn baby, and Christmas gifts they brought,
so he recieved their greetings, and not the king they'd thought.

This is the ancient story the Christmas star can tell;
from that night it's been shining wherever humans dwell.
Nothing will make it fade, it's for us to watch it glow.
Martha the midwife's cottage roof rests peacefully below.