Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 1.djvu/479

 by Almighty  God,  for  Swithhun's  merits,

and he  then  went  home  whole  on  his  feet,

who before  was  borne  on  a  bier  to  church.

Then afterwards  he  went  very  quickly  to  Winchester,

and told  the  venerable  bishop  AEthelwold

how he  had  been  healed  through  the  holy  Swithhun;

and Landferth,  the  foreigner,  set  it  down  in  Latin.

Now is  it  to  be  known,  that  we  should  not  at  all  trust

too much  to  dreams,  because  they  are  not  all  from  God;

some dreams  are  in  truth  from  God,

even as  we  read  in  books,  and  some  are  from  the  devil

for some  deceit,  [seeking]  how  he  may  pervert  the  soul,

but his  phantasms  cannot  harm  good  men,

if they  cross  themselves,  and  commend  themselves  to  God.

Those dreams  are  pleasant  which  come  from  God,

and those  are  fearful  which  come  from  the  devil;

and God  Himself  forbade  us  to  follow  dreams,

lest the  devil  have  power  to  bewitch  us.

A certain  man  in  "Winchester  was  angry  with  his  serf

for some  carelessness,  and  put  him  in  fetters;

he sat  there  a  long  time  in  the  hated  bonds

until he  stole  out,  hopping  by  help  of  his  staff,

and sought  Saint  Swithhun  with  lamentation.

The bolt  at  once  shot  out  of  the  fetter,

and the  serf  rose  up,  freed  by  the  saint.

A certain  man  was  bound  about  the  head

for his  heavy  guilt;  he  came  to  the  saint,

and his  sore  head-bond  soon  burst  asunder  as  he  prayed.

We cannot  write,  nor  recount  in  words,

all the  miracles  that  the  holy  man  Swithhun