You may judge, therefore, how surprised he was when he looked out into the darkness and saw a light. It grew stronger and stronger every moment. A great fire was blazing near by on the top of a hill!
Who could have dared to disobey the king? What was the meaning of the fire? The Druid priest for whom the king sent in haste said:
"O king, if that fire is not put out to-night, it will never die in this country."
Now it happened that the festival which the king and his people were celebrating was held on the night before Easter Sunday. Few people of Erin had at that time heard of Easter Sunday. They knew nothing of the life of the Christ Child. They were Druids, and had a strange belief of their own.
Their chief priests dwelt in the dark forests of oak-trees, and taught their followers to worship fire as the symbol of the sun.
But a new teacher had come into their country. He had a message to the people. He wished to tell them of the Christian religion and of Jesus, who had lived and suffered and died to help all mankind.
The name of the new teacher was Patrick, and Scotland was his early home. When he was sixteen years old, he was surprised by a band of robbers. They made him their prisoner and took him with them to Ireland.
After he had been with them six months, he managed to get free and went back to Scotland.
But he was carried off a second time, and again he escaped. After he reached his own home once more, he said to himself, "I should like to help the people of Ireland. I should like to tell them of Jesus and his religion."
He began to study and prepare himself for teaching. At last he was made a bishop.