Two little stories for Imbolc.
There was a time when the ground around a
monastery was regarded as holy ground.
It was considered a safe place and no one was allowed to enter it with
weapons or remove anyone against their will. It wasn’t just humans who knew
about this, the animals seemed to know about it as well. The following stories concern the monastery
at Kildare (Cill dara), the church of the oak, and St. Brigid.
Brigid and the Boar.
One day a group of hunters were chasing a wild
boar and just before they managed to trap it the boar staggered onto the
grounds of the monastery. The hunters
stopped outside the gates and waited for the nuns to chase the boar back out to
them so they could kill it. However, Brigid saw the state of the poor thing and
decided that the boar had claimed the right to sanctuary just as if it was
human and so it deserved to be given a place of safety in which to rest. She sent a message out to the hunters telling
them of her decision, they of course demanded to be given their boar as it was
an animal and didn’t deserved the same rights as humans. Brigid replied that as far as she was
concerned all living creatures deserved the same rights and so that was an end to
the matter.
The hunters were extremely angry but could do
nothing, so disappointed they rode away. As for the boar, well it had its
wounds cleansed and was given food and drink.
It soon got over its ordeal and Brigid led it to her own herd of pigs on
the monastery farm. At once the boar
cheered up as it saw all the female pigs smiling and winking at him; he became
very tame and settled into the herd. He
lived there very happily and as far as I know he might still be there and if he
isn’t he’ll be somewhere else.
Brigid and the Fox.
Brigid
had a wonderful way with animals. One day a friend of the monastery workmen
came to her with a sad tale that the friend had accidentally killed the king of
Leinster's pet fox, thinking that it was a wild animal. The man was arrested.
His wife and children begged the king to spare his life to no avail. The
workman asked Brigid to intercede.
Although
Brigid loved animals, she thought it was wrong that a man's life should be
demanded in return for the fox's, so she ordered her horse and cart to be made
ready and she set out for the court. The way lay through a wood, where the road
was a mere track and the horse had to walk. Brigid prayed for the right words
to speak to the angry king to save the life of the woodsman.
Suddenly
she saw a little fox peeping shyly at her around a tree and she had an idea.
She told her driver to stop and called the animal to her. Immediately it sprang
into the cart beside her and nestled happily in the folds of her cloak. Brigid
stroked its head and spoke to it gently. The little fox licked her hand and
looked at her with its big brown eyes.
When she
reached the king's castle, the fox trotted after her. She found the king still
in a mighty rage. "Nothing," he told her angrily, "nothing in
the world could make up to me for the loss of my beloved pet. Death is too good
for that idiot who killed him. He must die as a warning to others. Let him
die."
The king
stormed on, "It is no use asking for mercy. That little fox was my
companion, and my friend. That idiot brutally killed him for no reason. What
harm did I do to that man? Do you have any idea how much I loved that little
fox, I cared for him from the first day he was born?"
The
king's furious eyes met Brigid's loving ones. Yes, indeed, she could well
understand it. She was truly sorry for his loss for she loved all animals and
especially tame little foxes. Look here . . . she beckoned forward her new pet
from the woods that had been crouching behind her.
The king
forgot his anger in this new interest. He and his household looked on
delightedly while Brigid proceeded to put the fox through all kinds of clever
tricks. It obeyed her voice and tried so hard to please her that the onlookers
were delighted. Soon she was surrounded
by laughing faces.
The king
told her what his own little fox used to do. "See, it used to jump through
this hoop, even at this height." Well, so could Brigid's .When the king's
fox wanted a titbit, it used to stand on its hind legs with its fore paws
joined as though it were praying, and so could Brigid's. Could anything be more
amusing? When his mood had completely changed, Brigid offered her fox to the
king in exchange for the prisoner's life. Now the king agreed and he even
promised Brigid that never again would he inflict any kind of punishment on
that idiot workman, whose misdeed he would soon forget.
Brigid
was very happy when the prisoner was restored to his wife and children and she
went back home to the monastery. However, the little fox missed her and became
restless and unhappy. It didn’t care when Brigid led him into the castle, but
without her the castle was a prison. After a while the king left on business
and no one else bothered much about the new pet. The fox waited for its chance
and when it found an open door, it made good its escape back to the woods.
Presently the king returned and there was commotion when the pet was
missed. The whole household was sent flying out to search for it. When they
failed to find the fox, the king's hounds were sent to help in the search,
their keen noses snuffing over the ground for the fox's scent. Then the king
summoned out his whole army, both horsemen and footmen, to follow the hounds in
every direction. It was all no use. When night fell, they all returned wearily
to their king with news of failure. Brigid's little pet fox was never found
again.
So if you are walking through the woods one day and see a little fox
with big brown eyes say “hello”. You never know it might be related to Brigid’s
fox.
Image = Scene of the blessing of St. Brigid of
Kildare.
Artist = Lorenzo Lotto. Completion
Date: 1524, Italy. Fresco in the
Oratory Suardi in Trescore,
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