two moments although it was plain from his appearance
that his health was declining, and he was growing thinner from day to
day. The brothers pitied him very much. At length Mochuda questioned
him--putting him under obedience to tell the truth--as to the cause of
his decline. The monk thereupon showed him his sides which were torn by
a twig tied fast around them. Mochuda asked him who had done that
barbarous and intolerable thing to him. The monk answered:--"One day
while we were drawing logs of timber from the wood my girdle broke from
the strain, so that my clothes hung loose. A monk behind me saw this
and cutting a twig tied it so tightly around my sides that it has caused
my flesh to mortify." Mochuda asked--"And why did you not loosen the
twig?" The monk replied--"Because my body in not my own and he who tied
it (the withe) has never loosed it." It was a whole year since the
withe had been fastened around him. Mochuda said to him:--"Brother, you
have suffered great pain; as a reward thereof take now you choice--your
restoration to bodily health or spiritual health by immediate departure
hence to eternal life." He answered, deciding to go to heaven:--"Why
should I desire to remain in this life?" Having received the Sacrament
and the Holy Communion he departed hence to glory.

There came to Mochuda on another occasion with her husband, a woman
named Brigh whose hand lay withered and useless by her side: she
besought the saint to cure her hand. Moreover she was pregnant at the
time. Mochuda held out an apple in his hand to her as he had done
before to Flandnait, the daughter of Cuana, saying--"Alleluia, put forth
your nerveless hand to take this apple." She did as she was told and
took the apple from his hand and was cured; moreover as she tasted the
fruit parturition came on--without pain or inconvenience, after which
[the pair] returned to their home rejoicing.

In fulfilment of the prophecy of Columcille and other holy men that
Mochuda should be expelled from Rahen the king of Tara, Blathmac, the
son of Aodh Slaine, and his brother Diarmuid came, together with some
clergy of the Cluain Earaird [Clonard] community, to carry out the
eviction [in A.D. 635]. They said to him, "Leave this monastery and
region and seek a place for yourself elsewhere." Mochuda replied--"In
this place I have desired to end my days. Here I have been many years
serving God and have almost reached the end of my life. There