at mine heart is straitened;
therefore I beseech Thee that it may please Thee to make manifest unto
me, Thy sinful servant, this mystery which now I do see with mine eyes.
And this I ask not for an desert of my worthiness, but in respect of Thy
mercy." When he had so spoken, behold, one of the birds flew from the
tree. From the ship, where the man of God was sitting, his wings sounded
as with the sound of little bells. He perched upon the top of the prow,
and began to spread his wings for joy, and looked kindly upon the holy
father Brendan. Then the man of God, when he understood that the Lord
had had regard unto his prayer, saith unto the bird, "If thou be the
messenger of God, tell me whence be these birds, and wherefore they be
gathered here." And it said, "We are of that great ruin of the old
enemy; but we have not fallen by sinning or consenting; but we have been
predestinated by the goodness and mercy of God, for wherein we were
created, hath our ruin come to pass, through his fall and the fall of
his crew. But God the Almighty, Who is righteous and true, hath by His
judgment sent us into this place. Pains we suffer not. The presence of
God in a sense we cannot see, so far has He separated us from the
company of them that stood firm. We wander through the divers parts of
this world, of the sky, and of the firmament, and of the earths, even as
other spirits who are sent forth [to minister]. But upon the holy days
of the Lord, we take bodies such as Thou seest, and by the ordinance of
God we dwell here, and praise our Maker. As for thee, thou and thy
brethren are a year upon the way, and yet there await you six. And where
this day thou hast kept the Passover, there shall ye keep it every year,
and afterwards shall thou find that which thou hast set in thine heart,
even the land promised unto the Saints." And when the bird had so
spoken, it rose from the prow, and returned unto the others. And when
the hour of evening came, they all began to flap their wings, and to
sing as it were with one voice, saying, "Praise waiteth for Thee, O God,
in Zion, and unto Thee shall the vow be performed in Jerusalem, through
our ministry." And they repeated that verse even for the space of an
hour, and the song and the sound of their wings was like harmony (carmen
cantus) for sweetness. Then holy Brendan saith unto his brethren,
"Refresh your bodies, since this day the Lord hath satisfied your souls
by His Divine rising again." And whe