"The Friendly Beasts" is a traditional Christmas song about the gifts that a donkey, a cow, a sheep, a camel, and a dove gave to Jesus at the Nativity. The song seems to have originated in 12th-century France, set to the melody of the Latin song Orientis Partibus. The current English words were written by Robert Davis (1881-1950) in the 1920s. Burl Ives included the song on his 1952 album Christmas Day in the Morning

Christmas Day in the Morning (Burl Ives album)

Christmas Day in the Morning is the first of several Christmas albums by the folk singer Burl Ives. Subtitled Yuletide Folk Songs, this album includes seven traditional Christmas carols, from the well-known "What Child Is This?" to the little-known "Down in Yon Forest" and "The Seven Joys of...

. Since then, it has been recorded by many other artists, including Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte

Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...

, Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash

John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...

, Risë Stevens

Risë Stevens

Risë Stevens is a retired American operatic mezzo-soprano.-Professional life:Stevens studied at New York's Juilliard School for three years. She went to Vienna, where she was trained by Marie Gutheil-Schoder and Herbert Graf. She made her début as Mignon in Prague in 1936 and stayed there until...

, Danny Taddei, Peter, Paul and Mary

Peter, Paul and Mary

Peter, Paul and Mary were an American folk-singing trio whose nearly 50-year career began with their rise to become a paradigm for 1960s folk music. The trio was composed of Peter Yarrow, Paul Stookey and Mary Travers...

, and Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens is an American singer-songwriter and musician born in Detroit, Michigan. Stevens first began releasing his music on Asthmatic Kitty, a label co-founded with his stepfather, beginning with the 1999 release, A Sun Came...

. Brian Stokes Mitchell

Brian Stokes Mitchell

Brian Stokes Mitchell is an American stage, film and television actor. A powerful baritone, he has been one of the central leading men of the Broadway theatre since the early 1990s...

 recently sang this song with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, sometimes colloquially referred to as MoTab, is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning, 360-member, all-volunteer choir. The choir is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . However, the choir is completely self-funded, traveling and producing albums to...

, complete with the donkey, cow, and sheep "voices". Garth Brooks recorded it on his platinum Beyond the Season

Beyond the Season

Beyond the Season is the first Christmas album by American country music artist Garth Brooks. It was released on August 25, 1992, and peaked at number 2 on both of Billboard magazine's Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums sales charts that year...

in 1992.

The song is also known as "The Song of the Ass," The Donkey Carol," "The Animal Carol" and "The Gift of the Animals." Belafonte and Cash use the title "The Gifts They Gave."