266 BIRDS IN LEGEND 



certain magpie. Similarly the site for the abbey of 

 Thierry, near Rheims, in France, was indicated to St. 

 Theodoric, in the sixth century, by a white eagle cir- 

 cling around the top of the hill on which it subsequently 

 was erected; and this miraculous eagle was seen year 

 after year in the sky above it. 



About that time Kenelm, son and heir of Kenulph, 

 king of Wessex, was seven years old. His sister, who 

 wanted to succeed to the throne in his place, procured 

 his murder. The instant this was accomplished the fact 

 was notified to the Pope, according to the Chronicles 

 of Roger de Wendover, by a white dove that alighted 

 on the altar of St. Peter's, bearing in its beak a scroll 

 on which was written 



In Clent cow-pasture, under a thorn, 

 Of head bereft lies Kenelm, king-born. 



The Pope sent word to England, the body was found in 

 a thicket over which hung a pillar of supernal light, and 

 was taken to Winchelcumb, in Gloucestershire, for 

 burial; and at the spot near Halesowen, in Shropshire, 

 where he was killed, Kenelm's Chapel was erected. 



But the most mystical legend in which birds are a 

 part, is one familiar in Brittany. It is related of St. 

 Leonore, a Welsh missionary who went to Brittany in 

 the sixth century, to whom many fabulous powers and 

 deeds are attributed, the most comprehensible of which 

 Baring-Gould has put into verse. Leonore, with a band 

 of followers, had decided to settle in Brittany on a 

 desolate moor; but they had forgotten to bring any 

 seed-wheat, and were alarmed. 



