The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew

Pseudonymously presented as a Hebrew work of the apostle Matthew translated by Jerome; the real author is unknown, a Latin compiler of about the 8th-9th century AD (the spurious letters that frame it are not included here). It combines the Protevangelium of James and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas with new stories, chiefly the flight into Egypt, where a palm tree bends down to feed the family and the idols fall. It is the earliest source of the ox and the ass at the manger, and it shaped the medieval nativity.