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032 - The Story of the Little Bird - Conversion King Laoghaire's Daughters · Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry

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  Speaker 1: Section thirty one of the Fairy and Folk Tales of
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  Speaker 1: the Irish Peasantry. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
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  Speaker 1: recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
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  Speaker 1: to volunteire, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Christine G.
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  Speaker 1: Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, edited and
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  Speaker 1: selected by W. B. Yates, Section thirty one The Story
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  Speaker 1: of the Little Bird by T. Crofton Croker. Many years ago,
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  Speaker 1: there was a very religious and holy man, one of
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  Speaker 1: the monks of a convent, and he was one day
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  Speaker 1: kneeling at his prayers in the garden of his monastery,
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  Speaker 1: when he heard a little bird singing in one of
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  Speaker 1: the rose trees of a garden. And there never was
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  Speaker 1: anything that he had heard in the world so sweet
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  Speaker 1: as the song of that little bird. And the holy
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  Speaker 1: Man rose up from his knees where he was kneeling
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  Speaker 1: at his prayers to listen to its song, for he
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  Speaker 1: thought he, in all his life, heard anything so heavenly.
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  Speaker 1: And the little bird, after singing for some time longer
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  Speaker 1: on the rose tree, flew away to a grove at
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  Speaker 1: some distance from the monastery, and the holy man followed
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  Speaker 1: it to listen to its singing, for he felt as
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  Speaker 1: if he would never be tired of listening to the
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  Speaker 1: sweet song it was singing out of its throat. And
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  Speaker 1: the little bird after that went away to another distant
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  Speaker 1: tree and sang there for a while, and then to
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  Speaker 1: another tree, and so on in the same manner, but
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  Speaker 1: ever further and further away from the monastery, and the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Man still followed it farther, and father, and father
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  Speaker 1: still listening, delighted to its enchanting song. But at last
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  Speaker 1: he was obliged to give up, as it was growing
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  Speaker 1: late in the day, and he returned to the convent.
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  Speaker 1: And as he approached it in the evening, the sun
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  Speaker 1: was setting in the west with all the most heavenly
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  Speaker 1: colors that were ever seen in the world. And when
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  Speaker 1: he came into the convent, it was nightfall, and he
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  Speaker 1: was quite surprised said everything he saw, for they were
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  Speaker 1: all strange faces about him in the monastery that he
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  Speaker 1: had never seen before, and the very place itself and
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  Speaker 1: everything about it seemed to be strangely altered, and altogether
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  Speaker 1: it seemed entirely different from what it was when he
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  Speaker 1: had left it in the morning, and the garden was
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  Speaker 1: not like the garden where he had been kneeling at
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  Speaker 1: his devotion when he first heard the singing of the
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  Speaker 1: little bird. And while he was wondering at all he
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  Speaker 1: saw one of the monks of the convent came up
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  Speaker 1: to him, and the Holy Man questioned him, brother, what
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  Speaker 1: is the course of all these strange changes that have
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  Speaker 1: taken place here since the morning? And the monk that
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  Speaker 1: he spoke to seemed to bonder greatly at his question,
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  Speaker 1: and asked him what he meant by the change since morning?
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  Speaker 1: For sure there was no change, that all was just
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  Speaker 1: as before. And then he said, brother, why do you
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  Speaker 1: ask his strange questions? And what is your name? For
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  Speaker 1: you wear the habit of our order, though we have
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  Speaker 1: never seen you before. So upon this the Holy Man
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  Speaker 1: told his name, and said that he had been at
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  Speaker 1: mass in the chapel in the morning before he had
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  Speaker 1: wandered away from the garden, listening to the song of
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  Speaker 1: a little bird that was singing among the rose trees
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  Speaker 1: near where he was kneeling at his prayers. And the brother,
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  Speaker 1: while he was speaking, gazed at him very earnestly, and
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  Speaker 1: then told him there was in the convent a tradition
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  Speaker 1: of a brother of his name who had left it
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  Speaker 1: two hundred years before, but that what was become of
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  Speaker 1: him was never known. And while he was speaking, the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Man said, my hour of death is come. Blessed
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  Speaker 1: be the name of the Lord for all his mercies
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  Speaker 1: to me through the merits of his only begotten son.
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  Speaker 1: And he kneeled down that very moment and said, brother,
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  Speaker 1: take my confession, for my soul is departing. And he
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  Speaker 1: made his confession and received his absolution, and was anointed,
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  Speaker 1: and before midnight he died. The little bird, you see,
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  Speaker 1: was an angel, one of the Cherubims or Seraphims. And
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  Speaker 1: that was the way the Almighty was pleased in his
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  Speaker 1: mercy to take to himself the soul of that holy man.
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  Speaker 1: Confession of King Leary's daughters. Once, when Patrick and his
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  Speaker 1: clerics were sitting beside a well in the wrath of Kragan,
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  Speaker 1: with books open on their nis, they saw coming towards
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  Speaker 1: them two young daughters of the King of Connaho. Twas
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  Speaker 1: early morning, and they were going to dwell to bathe.
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  Speaker 1: The young girls said to Patrick, whence are ye? And
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  Speaker 1: whence come ye? And Patrick answered, it was better for
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  Speaker 1: you to confess to the true God, than to inquire
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  Speaker 1: concerning our race. Who is God? Said the young girls.
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  Speaker 1: And where is God? And of what nature is God?
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  Speaker 1: And where is his dwelling place? Has your gods sons
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  Speaker 1: and daughters? Gold and silver? Is He everlasting? Is He beautiful?
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  Speaker 1: Did marry Foster her son? Are his daughters dare and
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  Speaker 1: beauteous to men of the world? Is He in heaven
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  Speaker 1: or on earth, in the sea, in rivers, in mountainous places,
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  Speaker 1: in valleys? Patrick answered them and made known who God was.
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  Speaker 1: And they believed, and were baptized, and a white garment
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  Speaker 1: put upon their heads. And Patrick asked them would they
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  Speaker 1: live on or would they die and behold the face
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  Speaker 1: of Christ. They chose death and died immediately, and were
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  Speaker 1: buried near the well Clebach. End of section thirty one.