Legends and Satires from Mediæval Literature

by Unknown

And then came the south wind and drove them further to the north, where they saw an hill all of fire, and a foul smoke and stench coming from thence, and the fire stood on each side of the hill, like a wall, all burning. And then one of his monks began to cry and weep full sore, and said that his end was come and that he might abide no longer in the ship; and anon he leapt out of the ship into the sea, and then he cried and roared full piteously, cursing the time that he was born and also father and mother that begat him, because they saw no better to his correction in his young age, "for now I must go to perpetual pain." And then the saying of the blessed Saint Brandon was verified that he said to him when he entered. Therefore it is good a man to do penance and forsake sin, for the hour of death is uncertain.

And then anon the wind turned into the north and drove the ship into the south, which sailed seven days continually, and they came to a great rock standing in the sea, and thereon sat a naked man in full great misery and pain, for the waves of the sea had so beaten his body that all the flesh was gone off, and nothing left but sinews and bare bones. And when the waves were gone, there was a canvas that hung over his head which beat his body full sore with the blowing of the wind; and also there were two ox-tongues and a great stone that he sat on which did him full great ease.

And then Saint Brandon charged him to tell him what he was. And he said: "My name is Judas, that sold our Lord Jesu Christ for thirty pence, which sitteth here thus wretchedly, howbeit I am worthy to be in the greatest pain that is. But our Lord is so merciful that He hath rewarded me better than I have deserved, for of right my place is in the burning hell, but I am here but certain times of the year, that is, from Christmas to Twelfth Day, and from Easter till Whitsuntide be past, and every feastful day of our Lady, and every Saturday noon till Sunday that evensong be done. But all other times, I lie still in hell, in full burning fire, with Pilate, Herod, and Caiaphas; therefore accursed be the time that ever I knew them."

And then Judas prayed Saint Brandon to abide still there all that night, and that he would keep him there still, that the fiends should not fetch him to hell. And Saint Brandon said, "With God's help thou shalt abide here all this night." And then he asked Judas what cloth that was that hung over his head, and he said that it was a cloth that he gave to a leper, which was bought with the money that he stole from our Lord when he bare His purse. "Wherefore, it doth to me full great pain now in beating my face with the blowing of the wind, and these two ox-tongues that hang here above me, I gave them sometime to two priests to pray for me; them I bought with mine own money, and therefore they ease me, because the fishes of the sea gnaw on them and spare me. And this stone that I sit on lay sometime in a desolate place where it eased no man, and I took it thence, and laid it in a foul way, where it did much ease to them that went by that way, and therefore it easeth me now, for every good deed shall be rewarded and every evil deed shall be punished."

And the Sunday, against even, there came a great multitude of fiends, blasting and roaring, and they bade Saint Brandon go thence that they might have their servant Judas, "For we dare not come in the presence of our master but if we bring him to hell with us." And then said Saint Brandon: "I let not you to do your master's commandment, but by the power of the Lord Jesu Christ, I charge you to leave him this night till tomorrow." They said: "How darest thou help him that so sold his master for thirty pence to the Jews, and caused Him also to die the most shameful death upon the cross?" And then Saint Brandon charged the fiends by His passion that they should not noy him that night. And then the fiends went their way, roaring and crying, towards hell to their master the great devil. And then Judas thanked Saint Brandon so ruthfully that it was a pity to see. And on the morrow the fiends came with a horrible noise, saying that they had that night suffered great pain because they brought not Judas, and said that he should suffer double pain the six days following; and they took then Judas, trembling for fear, with them to pain.

And after, Saint Brandon sailed southward three days and three nights, and on the Friday they saw an island, and then Saint Brandon began to sigh, and said: "I see the island wherein Saint Paul the hermit dwelleth and hath dwelled there forty years without meat and drink ordained by man's hand." And when they came to the land, Saint Paul came and welcomed them humbly. He was old and foregrown[38] so that no man might see his body. Of whom Saint Brandon said, weeping: "I see a man that liveth more like an angel than a man, wherefore we monks may be ashamed that we live not better." Then Saint Paul said to Saint Brandon: "Thou art better than I, for our Lord hath shewed to thee more privities than he hath done to me; wherefore, thou oughtest to be more praised than I."

To whom Saint Paul said: "Some time I was a monk of Saint Patrick's abbey in Ireland and was warden of the place whereas men enter into Saint Patrick's Purgatory, and on a day there came one to me and I asked him what he was, and he said: 'I am your abbot, Patrick, and charge thee that thou depart from hence tomorn early to the sea-side, and there thou shalt find a ship into which thou must enter, which God has ordained for thee, whose will thou must accomplish.' And so the next day I arose and went forth, and found the ship, in which I entered, and, by the purveyance of God, was I brought into this island the seventh day after. And then I left the ship and went to land, and there I walked up and down a good while, and then, by the purveyance of God, there came an otter, going upon his hinder feet, and brought me a flint stone and an iron to smite fire with, in the two foreclaws of his feet, and also, he had about his neck great plenty of fish, which he cast down before me and went his way. And I smote fire, and made a fire of sticks, and did seethe the fish, by which I lived three days. And then the otter came again and brought me fish for other three days, and thus he hath done this fifty-one years, through the grace of God. And there was a great stone out of which our blessed Lord made to spring fair water clear and sweet, whereof I drink daily. And thus have I lived one and fifty years. I was forty years old when I came hither, and am now an hundred and eleven years old, and abide till it please our Lord Jesu Christ to send for me; and if it pleased Him, I would fain be discharged of this wretched life."

And then he bade Saint Brandon to take of the water of the well and to carry it into his ship, "for it is time that thou depart, for thou hast a great journey to do, for thou shalt sail to an island which is forty days' sailing hence, where thou shalt hold thine Easter like as thou hast done tofore, whereas the tree of birds is. And from thence thou shalt sail into the Land of Behest, and shalt abide there forty days, and after return home into thy country in safety."

And then these holy men took leave each of other, and they wept both full sore, and kissed each other. Then Saint Brandon entered into the ship, and sailed forty days even south, in full great tempest, and on Easter Even they came to their procurator, which made to them good cheer, as he had beforetime. And from thence they came to the great fish whereon they said matins and mass on Easter Day, and when the mass was done, the fish began to move and swam forth fast into the sea, whereof the monks were sore aghast which stood upon him, for it was a great marvel to see such a fish, so great as all a country, for to swim so fast in the water, but, by the will of our Lord, this fish set all the monks aland in the Paradise of Birds, all whole and sound, and then returned to the place he came from. And then Saint Brandon and his monks thanked our Lord of their deliverance of the great fish, and kept their Eastertide till Trinity Sunday, like as they had done beforetime.

And after this they took their ship and sailed east forty days, and at the forty days' end it began to hail right fast, and therewith came a dark mist which lasted long after, which feared Saint Brandon and his monks, and they prayed to our Lord to keep and help them. And then anon came their procurator and bade them to be of good cheer, for they were come into the Land of Behest.