English literature -- Scottish authors; Scottish literature
"Glory and praise to God," cried Colum, "behold the Sabbath of the
children of God that inhabit the deeps of the air! Blessing and peace be
upon them."
"Peace! Peace!" cried the monks, with one voice.
"In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost!" cried Colum
the White, glad because of the glory to God.
"_An ainn an Athar, 's an Mhic, 's an Spioraid Naoimh_," cried the
monks, bowing reverently, and Oran and Keir deepest of all, because they
saw the fly that was of Colum's cell leading the whole host, as though
it were its captain, and singing to them a marvellous sweet song.
Oran and Keir testified to this thing, and all were full of awe and
wonder, and Colum praised God.
Then the saints and the brotherhood moved onward and went upon the
rocks. When all stood ankle-deep in the seaweed that was swaying in the
tide, Colum cried:
"O finny creatures of the deep, draw near!"
And with that the whole sea shimmered as with silver and gold. All the
fishes of the sea, and the great eels, and the lobsters and the crabs,
came in a swift and terrible procession. Great was the glory.
Then Colum cried, "O fishes of the deep, who is your king?" Whereupon
the herring, the mackerel, and the dogfish swam forward, and each
claimed to be king. But the echo that ran from wave to wave said, _The
Herring is King_!
Then Colum said to the mackerel, "Sing the song that is upon you."
And the mackerel sang the song of the wild rovers of the sea, and the
lust of pleasure.
Then Colum said, "But for God's mercy, I would curse you, O false fish."
Then he spoke likewise to the dogfish, and the dogfish sang of slaughter
and the chase, and the joy of blood.
And Colum said, "Hell shall be your portion."
Then there was peace. And the herring said:
"In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost."
Whereat all that mighty multitude, before they sank into the deep, waved
their fins and their claws, each after its kind, and repeated as with
one voice:
"_An ain ann Athar, 's an Mhic, 's an Spioraid Naoimh!_"
And the glory that was upon the Sound of Iona was as though God trailed
a starry net upon the waters, with a shining star in every little
hollow, and a flowing moon of gold on every wave.
Then Colum the White put out both his arms, and blessed the children of
God that are in the deeps of the sea and that are in the deeps of the
air.
That is how Sabbath came upon all living things upon Ioua that is
called Iona, and within the air above Ioua, and within the sea that is
around Ioua.
And the glory is Colum's.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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