Page:The book of wonder voyages (1919).djvu/141

 great herds of sheep feeding in the surrounding meadows. There were besides on the island a church and a fortress. They entered the church and found therein a cleric, ancient and gray, whose sole clothing was his own hair. Maelduin inquired of him whence he came.

"I am the fifteenth man of the community of the blessed Brendan," replied he. "We went forth on our pilgrimage into the vast and boundless ocean and we came to this island. And of the fifteen men all have died save I alone."

Then he showed them the tablet of the blessed Brendan, which they had taken with them on their pilgrimage. And the travelers bowed themselves before it, and Maelduin kissed it.

"Now," said the old man, "eat your fill of the sheep for food, but take no more than it needs to appease your hunger."

So they abode there for a season, feeding on the flesh of the sheep and worshiping with the cleric. One day as they were gazing seawards they perceived what seemed a cloud coming towards them, from the southwest, but on its nearer approach they saw by the waving of its wings that it was a bird. It came to the island and perched on a hill near the lake. And they feared lest it might bear them in its talons out to sea. It brought with it a branch bigger than one of the great oaks which grew upon the island, covered with large twigs, green leaves, and bearing heavy abundant fruit, red berries like to grapes, only larger in size. It seemed