76 = Kenach’s Little Woman

ishment 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.