27 
The Acadian refrain differs from most of the French versions, 
but a Provencal form closely resembles the Canadian. There 
are also other differences. This nursery song, according to 
Doncieux, was composed in French proper, probably in the 
neighbourhood of Saint-Nicolas-du-Port, where Saint Nicholas is 
the popular patron saint. 
In the local tradition, however, no trace can be found of 
this miracle of the saint, but a well-known song of Catalogna 
(Spain) contains a similar miracle which, there, is attributed to 
the Virgin, not Nicholas. If one of the two songs issued from the 
other, as is likely, the Spanish version probably is the original. 
Its details seem more authentic and the plot more logical. 
Catalogna, besides, has a sanctuary of Notre Dame, which is 
famous in all Christendom: the abbey of Montserrat, near 
Barcelona, where a black Virgin holding the Infant Jesus has 
drawn, since the thirteenth century, many pilgrims from every- 
where. The Catalan canticle must have originated here and 
spread to other parts with the pilgrims. 
A French visitor is likely to have introduced it at Saint- 
Nicolas-du-Port, after returning from Montserrat. Then it was 
adapted to the worship of the patron saint of the locality without 
robbing the Virgin of her credit: Saint Nicholas is only a party 
to the miracle. Other instances of such miracles attributed to 
various saints are familiar elsewhere. The fame of miraculous 
shrines travelled far and wide, like the folk-songs of other days. 
97380—3 
