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Part 13: The Soporific Well

When the feast-days were over the blessed Brendan and his followers brought provisions into the boat and received the blessing of the holy men. He then sailed out to the ocean as fast as he could. Whether by rowing or sailing, the boat was carried by many different places until the beginning of Lent.

One day they saw an island not far in front of them. When the brothers saw it they began to row eagerly, because they were then very distressed from hunger and thirst. Their food and drink had failed three days before. When the holy father had blessed the landing-place and all had disembarked from the boat, they found a clear well, a variety of plants and roots in a circle around the well, and various kinds of fish swimming along the river-bed into the sea.

Saint Brendan said to his brothers:

"God has given us here a comfort after our toil. Gather the plants and roots which the Lord has prepared for his servants."

So they did. When they poured out the water to drink it, however, the man of God said to them:

"Brothers, take care that you do not use too much of these waters, lest they lie heavily upon your bodies."

The brothers interpreted the prescription of the man of God in different ways. Some of them drank one cup, others two, and the rest three. The last were overcome by a sleep of three days and three nights; others by a sleep of two days and two nights; the remainder by a sleep of a day and a night. But the holy father prayed unceasingly to God for his brothers, because through their ignorance such a danger had come upon them.

When the three days' sleeping were up, the holy father spoke to his companions:

"Brothers, let us flee from this threat to our lives lest something worse happen to us. The Lord gave us sustenance, but you did yourself damage with it. Leave this island, then, taking provisions from the fish, and prepare what you need for a meal every third day up to Maundy Thursday. Likewise for the water — a single cup for each brother each day and equally for the roots."

When they had loaded the boat with all that the man of God had ordered, they set sail and made out to sea in a northerly direction.

< PART 12. THE COMMUNITY OF AILBE | PART 14. THE COAGULATED SEA

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