THE KING'S MIRROR 



no creature of the female sex ever ventures into that 

 churchyard, nor could it enter if it tried.* 



Once there was a holy man in that country named 

 Kevinus, who lived in a place called Glumelaga.f At the 

 time he lived almost as a hermit, and the event which 

 we shall now relate occurred in his day. It so befell that 

 a young man was living with him, a kinsman of his who 

 was his servant, and the saint loved the youth very 

 much. But the lad fell ill before his eyes, and the malady 

 grew so heavy and severe that death seemed imminent. 

 It was in the spring time, in the month of March, when 

 the man's illness was at the worst. Then it happened 

 that the youth asked his kinsman Kevinus to give him 

 an apple, saying that he would find relief from his illness 

 if he got what he asked for. It seemed unlikely, however, 

 that apples could be gotten in that season, as the buds 

 had only just begun to swell and sprout forth leaves on 

 the fruit trees. But because the holy Kevinus grieved 

 sorely over the illness of his kinsman, and also because 

 he was unable to procure what he had requested, he 

 knelt down in prayer and implored God to send him 

 somewhat of those things, so that his kinsman might find 

 the relief that he yearned for. Having risen from prayer, 

 he stepped outside and looked around. Near the house 



* The holy island which is shunned by all females is mentioned by Giraldus 

 (Opera, V, 80-81), but he fails to give the name of either the lake or the island. 

 In the "Wonders of Ireland" (Irish Nennius, 217) this island is also the one 

 on which no one is permitted to die. A similar legend is alluded to in Reliquiae 

 Antiquae, II, 107. Meyer believes that " the Norse version offers a combina- 

 tion or confusion of two different Irish stories, one relating to Diarmait's 

 churchyard in Inis Clothrann, and the other relating to an island on Loch 

 Cre." riu, IV, 9. 



t Glendalough. St. Kevin was the founder of the great abbey of Glendalough. 

 The year of his death is variously given as 617 and 618. 



