m, and rose and went towards the
cavern; and when she was in the shadow of the rocks she turned towards
the monks beside the fire, and said, "My son bids me thank you."

They looked up, and what was their astonishment to see a heavenly glory
shining about the woman and her child in the gloom of the cave. And in
his left hand the child carried a little golden image of the world, and
round his head was a starry radiance, and his right hand was raised in
blessing.

For such a while as it takes the shadow of a cloud to run across a
rippling field of corn, for so long the vision remained; and then it
melted into the darkness, even as a rainbow melts away into the rain.

On his face fell the Abbot, weeping for joy beyond words; but Diarmait
was seized with fear and trembling till he remembered the way in which
the child had pressed warm palms against his face and forgiven him.

The story of these things was whispered abroad, and ever since, in that
part of Erinn in the sea, the mother blackbird is called Kenach's
Little Woman.

And as for the stone on which the fire was lighted in front of the
cave, rain rises quickly from it in mist and leaves it dry, and snow
may not lie upon it, and even in the dead of winter it is warm to
touch. And to this day it is called the Stone of Holy Companionship.

Golden Apples and Roses Red

In the cruel days of old, when Diocletian was the Master of the World,
and the believers in the Cross were maimed, and tortured with fire, and
torn with iron hooks, and cast to the lions, and beheaded with the
sword, Dorothea, a beautiful maiden of Caesarea, was brought before
Sapricius, the Governor of Cappadocia, and commanded to forsake the
Lord Christ and offer incense to the images of the false gods.

Though she was so young and so fair and tender, she stood unmoved by
threats and entreaties, and when, with little pity on her youth and
loveliness, Sapricius menaced her with the torment of the iron bed over
a slow fire, she replied: "Do with me as you will. No pain shall I
fear, so firm is my trust in Him for whom I am ready to die."

"Who, then, is this that has won thy love?" asked the Governor.

"It is Christ Jesus, the Son of God. Slay me, and I shall but the
sooner be with Him in His Paradise, where there is no more pain,
neither sorrow, but the tears are wiped from all eyes, and the roses
are in bloom alway, and for ever the fruit of joy is on the trees."

"Thy words are but