The First Latin Life of Saint Ciaran - Page 2

poured water into the mouth and on the face of the horse, it forthwith rose from death and stood whole before them all. The son of the king bestowed that field, which was great and the best, upon Saint Kiaranus in perpetuity.

IV.

HOW CIARAN TURNED WATER INTO HONEY

3. On another day the mother of Saint Kyaranus upbraided him, saying, "The sensible other boys bring honey to their parents every day, from the fields and the places where honey is found. But this our son, weak and soft as he is, bringeth us no honey." The holy boy Kyaranus, hearing this saying of his mother chiding him, made his way to a spring hard by, and thence filled a vessel with water. When he blessed it, honey of the best was made from the water, and he gave it to his mother. But his parents, astonished at the miracle, sent that honey to the deacon Iustus, who had baptized him, that he might himself see the miracle wrought by God through the boy whom he baptized. When he had heard and seen it, he gave thanks to Christ, and prayed for the boy.

VI.

HOW CIARAN AND HIS INSTRUCTOR CONVERSED, THOUGH DISTANT FROM ONE ANOTHER

4. The holy boy Kyaranus, as he kept the flocks of his parents, was wont to read the Psalms with Saint Diarmatus. But that teaching was imparted in a manner to us most wondrous. For Saint Kiaranus was keeping the flocks in the southern part of the plain of Aei, and Saint Diarmatus was dwelling in the northern part of the same plain, and the plain was of great extent between them. And thus, from afar off, they would salute each the other at ease, with words, across the spaces of the plain; and the elder would teach the boy from his cell across the plain, and the boy would read, sitting upon a rock in the field. The which rock is reverenced unto this day, as the Cross of Christ, called by the name of Kyaranus, is placed upon it. Now thus by divine favour were the holy ones wont to hear each the other, while others heard them not.

IX.

HOW CIARAN RESTORED A CALF WHICH A WOLF HAD DEVOURED

5. On a day when Saint Kyaranus was keeping the herds, a cow gave birth to a calf in his presence. Now in that hour the dutiful boy saw a wretched wasted hungry wolf a-coming towards him, and God's servant said to him, "Go, poor wretch, and devour that calf." Forthwith the famished hound fell upon the calf and devoured it. But when the holy herd-boy had come home with his herds, the cow, seeking her calf, was making a loud outcry; and when Derercha, mother of Saint Kyaranus, saw it, she said unto him, "Kyaranus, where is the calf of yonder cow? Restore it, although it be from sea or from land. For thou has lost it, and its mother's heart is sore vexed." When Saint Kyaranus heard these words, he returned to the place where the calf was devoured, and collected its bones into his breast; then returning, he laid them before the cow as she lamented. Straightway,