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Many, many years ago, in the country of Ireland, there lived a prince called Dughall who had made his King very angry. The King banished Dughall, and his foster daughter - the baby Bride - from Ireland, and sent them forth in a tiny boat.
The storms were so bad that Dughall was afraid that they would be capsized. |
| Then the tiny babe, whom he held in his arms, stretched out her hands and the waters grew calm. The place where he and his foster daughter Bride landed is called Iona. |
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The druids of that land who told them that the boat must have been guided to the island met them. They said they lit a fire every morning to welcome the sun back and to keep watch for a sign that a child, who would be the King of the Elements, had been born.
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Dughall and Bride lived there for many years and the druids taught Bride the secrets of their lore and showed her their holy places. One day, on her birthday, she was sitting between the rowan trees, gazing into a beautiful clear fountain that was called the Fountain of Youth. Suddenly she saw the reflection of a lovely woman standing behind her, dressed in a red gown that was redder than the rowanberries, and a blue cloak that was bluer than the sky. |
Bride turned round to greet her, but there was no one there! She was alone beside the trees and the fountain. Bride desperately wanted to meet the beautiful woman she had seen but she had no idea where to start or where to go. She heard a thrush singing some way off and started to walk towards it. A little white dove appeared in front of her and Bride thought that the bird wanted to lead her to the beautiful woman, so she followed it.
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Bride was led for a long time and a long way by the little bird during the day and by a star during the night. She travelled for many miles through many strange lands and across many wild seas until she came eventually to a little village in a land that was dry and parched. As she walked closer she saw an inn. What a surprise to find that the innkeeper was her foster father Dughall. |
He told her he was going to seek water for the wells and the plants and asked her to look after the inn for him, but to let no one else in because there was no room, no food and no ale. Bride looked after the inn for three days till there was no water in the barrel and no rain had fallen. There was very little food left and very little ale. Her foster father had not yet returned and there was a knock on the door. Outside in the harsh dry heat were a man and a woman who asked for shelter.
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Bride told them she could not let them in and as she looked at the woman a memory stirred in her mind. It was the same beautiful woman whose reflection she had seen in the Fountain of Youth, so far away and so long ago in Iona. Bride led them to a stable where they could at least rest out of the heat of the sun and be a little protected from the cold of the night and brought them some ale and bread. |
When she got back to the inn she was surprised to see that the loaf looked to be the same size as before and there seemed to be the same amount of ale in the flagon. It was night when Dughall returned with his cruse full of water. Bride started to tell him of the strange travellers but he told her to be quiet and to listen. Softly, through the silence came the sound of falling rain but there were no clouds in the sky!
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Dughall said, "There is an old saying that when it rains out of a cloudless sky, the King of the Elements has been born on earth. Let us visit those strange travellers." When they got to the stable they opened the door to such light it felt as though the sun had fallen from the sky. Dughall was amazed and asked who this child could be. "He is the Prince of Peace," replied Joseph. Mary looked up at Bride and said, "Bride, my sister, tonight you may be his nurse and I will rest." |
Bride cradled the tiny baby in her cloak and watched him as he slept. So light and bright and calm and peaceful it was that she felt as though her heart would burst with joy. Far away, on Iona, the dying Arch Druid Cathal saw in a vision the King of the Elements sleeping tranquilly in Bride's arms and was happy. The next morning Mary took the little wee babe and thanked Bride and said, "From now on you will be known as the foster mother of the Holy Child."
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Bride was very tired so she lay down to sleep and by the time she awoke there was no one in the stable but her. She wanted to find the little family again but she had no idea of where they had gone or how to find them, but as she wandered out of the stable she saw faint footprints glowing on the ground. She followed them for a long time, through days and nights, through strange countries and over unknown seas till, at last, she recognised the rowans and the Fountain of Youth. |
She lifted her head and the Foster Mother of the Prince of Peace said to the druids who were gathered round her, and who had waited so long to hear the words;
"Behold: the King Of the Elements has been born onto the earth"
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