heavenly vision descended on the Prior, and he
saw where Bresal sat on a rock in the sun gazing at the evergreen tree
and the ice-plant about the little pool, and he perceived that Bresal
fancied he was looking at these things.

A great tenderness for Bresal filled the Prior's heart, and he prayed:
"Lord, if it be Thy holy will, let Bresal my brother have near him
these things of which he is dreaming, as a remembrance of what his soul
loveth." Then, turning to the tree and the plant and the pool, he
blessed them and said: "O little tree and starry plant and cool well
and transparent fern, and whatsoever else Bresal now sees, arise in the
name of the Lord of the four winds and of earth and water and fire,
arise and go and make real the dream that he is dreaming."

As he spoke the trickling water and the tree and the saxifrage, and
with them parcels of soil and rock, and with the pool the blue light of
the sky reflected in it, rose like a cloud and vanished, and the Prior
beheld them no more.

At last Bresal brushed away his tears, blaming his weakness and his
enslavement to earthly affections, but the things he had seen in his
happy day-dream did not vanish. To his great amazement, there at his
feet were the little pool and the ice-plant, and hard by grew the
evergreen tree. He rose with a cry of joy, "O Father Prior, 'tis thy
prayer hath done this!"

And care was lifted from him, for now he knew that in his human love he
had in nowise sinned against the love of God, but contrariwise the love
of his friend had drawn him closer to the love of his Maker. During
all the days of the years of his exile this little parcel of Spain was
a solace and a strength to him.

Many a hundred years has gone by since this happened, but still if you
travel in that land you may see the ice-plant and the evergreen tree.
And the name of the evergreen is the Strawberry Tree. The ice-plant,
which is also called a saxifrage, may now be seen in many a garden to
which it has been brought from the Kerry mountains, and it is known as
London Pride. Botanists who do not know the story of Bresal of the
Songs have been puzzled to explain how a Spanish tree and a Spanish
flower happen to grow in one little nook of Erinn.

The Children of Spinalunga

The piazza or square in front of the Cathedral was the only open space
in which the children of Spinalunga had room to play. Spinalunga means
a Long Spine or Ridge of rock, and the c