shall serve God in that island."
According, then, to the life in the Marsh Library M.S.--the life which,
its many wild accounts notwithstanding, seems most free from
anachronisms--the Saint is the son of Obeth, King of Canaan, and Alpia,
daughter of the King of Arabia. His father dying, he gives up his right
to the throne in favour of his twin brother Generatius, takes orders, and
is appointed Bishop of the Cananeans. After twenty years as Bishop in
that region, admonished by an angel, he comes to Jerusalem, where he is
Patriarch for seven years. He then goes to Constantinople, and thence to
Rome, where, for seven years, he reigns as Pope. Quitting Rome, and
accompanied by a band of pilgrims, he makes his way into regions remote
and crosses the Mare Icteum (Straits of Dover) dryshod, and, after
travelling from place to place, arrives at the Forth. Adamnan, who, at
the time, was an abbot in Scotland, receives him with great honours on
the island of Inchkeith, and afterwards gave him, as his field of labour,
Fife, and from the Mons Britannicus to the Mons Okhel (from the mount of
the Britons to the Ochils.) He is next found at Kinel, then at Culenros,
where he met King Brude and founded a church; then at an island, in Loch
Leven, where he meets Adamnan and has the island presented to him. After
constructing churches throughout the whole region of Fife, and labouring
for years in the province assigned to him, and at many other places, he
died at Dunning, and was buried at Culross. The deeds ascribed to S.
Serf are certainly astounding, and the stories associated with him
extraordinarily "wild"; still, as the scenes of not a few of them are
laid at places in the Ochils district, and, accordingly, "Near the
Pictish Capital," it may not be inappropriate if a few of them are
rehearsed here.[24]
At Tuligbotuan (Tullybody) the Devil, having entered into a poor man,
filled him with an insatiable appetite. He ate and ate, and still the
wolf within craved for more. Though he consumed a cow and a calf, a
sheep and a lamb, all was of no avail. At length, when the family were
eaten "out of house and hall," his relatives take him to S. Serf, who
clapped his thumb[25] into the man's mouth, which immediately satisfied
him--the Devil flying out of him with a howl.
At Alveth (Alvah) Servanus and his company lodged, on one occasion, at
the house of a very poor man, who had nothing to put before them but his
one pig. It was forthwith cut up and eaten, the bones, however, being
carefully preserved from being broken. Next morning, to the great
delight and surprise of the poor man, the pig came grunting to the door,
restored to flesh, and life by the Saint.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account