ord to the
assembled chiefs. It was Easter eve, we are told, when he reached the
neighborhood of Tara, and having erected a tent, he made preparations
for spending the night with his companions, and kindled a fire for the
purpose of preparing food. As the smoke curled upward in the evening
air, it was observed by the druids in the king's tents and caused the
greatest consternation. To kindle any fire during the solemn assembly of
the chiefs, before the king had lighted the sacred flame in the palace
of Tara, was a sin of the greatest enormity, and the druids did not
scruple to warn the king that if the fire of the stranger was not
extinguished that night, unto him, whose fire it was, would belong the
sovereignty of Ireland forever.

Messengers were accordingly sent to discover the authors of the
sacrilege, and to order them to appear before Laoghaire. The
missionaries went, and their fearlessness when in the presence of the
monarch and his nobles won for them a respectful hearing. On the
following day St. Patrick again addressed the chiefs, doubtless in their
own language, and proclaimed to them the doctrines of the faith.
Laoghaire himself, indeed, did not profess to be a convert, but he gave
permission to the man of God to preach the word, on condition that he
did not disturb the peace of the kingdom. During the ensuing week,
therefore, when the great public games were celebrated at Tailten, the
missionary and his companions addressed themselves to the youngest
brother of the king, and were so favorably received that he professed
himself a believer, submitted to baptism, and is said to have given the
site of a church called afterward "The Great Church of Patrick."

[Illustration: St. Patrick journeying to Tara.]

The impression thus made upon the chiefs was soon shared by their
subjects, and though the pagan party made frequent attempts to put the
missionaries to death, from which they narrowly escaped, they were
heartily received in Westmeath, Connaught, Mayo, and Ulster, and
before long found themselves strong enough to destroy the great idol
Crom-cruach, on the plain of Magh Slecht, in the county of Cavan; and,
in the district of the clan Amalgaidh, admitted to baptism the seven
sons of the king and many of their people.

To the worshippers of the powers of nature, and especially the sun and
other heavenly bodies, St. Patrick proclaimed that the great luminary
which ruled the day had no self-originated existenc