Page:The most ancient lives of Saint Patrick - O'Leary.djvu/331



And after a short time the noble Darius, that he might show unto the saint yet greater favor, brought him out of a low place unto a place which was high; from a narrow dwelling unto one which was spacious and fair, which was foreshown unto him by an angelic miracle, at that time named Druymsaileach, but which is now called Ardmachia. And Saint Patrick, considering the pleasantness and convenience of the place, and walking around it, found therein a doe lying down with her fawn, which they who accompanied the saint willed to slay; but this the pious father would in no wise suffer to be done. And that he might show the bowels of pity, which he had unto God's creatures, he bore the fawn in his own arms, and caressed and cherished it, and carried it unto a park at the northern side of Ardmachia; and the doe, even as the tamest sheep, followed the compassionate bearer of her youngling, until he placed it down at her side. And on that day did the saint, for the praise of God and for the benefit of the people, bring forth out of the earth by his prayers, even for the seventh time, a clear fountain.

When the lamp of the daily light was extinguished in the shades of nocturnal darkness, the man of God beheld in a vision of the night angels measuring the form and the extent