The Secret of Kells by Eithne Massey Read Free Book Online

Aidan answered, ‘Does he indeed?’ Then he sighed. ‘Your uncle is a very wise man, Brendan, but no more than anyone else in this world, he doesn’t know everything. There are those that might say the faith that we believe in is no more than a story, and miracles a different sort of magic. But I have been here on this earth a long time now, Brendan, and there is something I am sure of. Just because you can see something doesn’t mean it is real. And just because you cannot see something doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Enough of my blather. I don’t want to be confusing you with all this talk. Let’s get on with the work!’

    During the day, Brendan went about his work,and helped with building the wall, which grew higher every day; but in the evenings, he would sneak out of his cell. He would go to the Scriptorium, where Aidan would be waiting to teach him. The other monks would help them, covering for Brendan when he was too sleepy to do the tasks the Abbot set him. They also found the raw materials for the inks and helped with making it. All of them wanted to see the Book completed.
    Spring passed into summer and Brendan sometimes slipped out of the monastery with Pangur and met Aisling in the forest. In the woods, he learned as much as he did in the Scriptorium. Aisling taught Brendan all about the different trees of the forest, their natures, their strengths and their weaknesses and their special powers. She introduced him to the animals and birds, which would come to her without any fear. Most of all, she taught him how to see the beauty that was all around him.
    The one dark cloud during that summer was that more and more refugees from the Northmen came to Kells, ragged and terrified, telling fearfultales of the cruelty and violence of the invaders. Each refugee had a story, and each story was sadder than the last. Parents came who had lost their children; children came who had lost their parents. Hundreds of innocent people had been killed or dragged away as slaves.
    And at night, after he had seen another group of starving villagers seek refuge in the Abbey and listened to their stories, Brendan would sometimes wake up and find himself shaking with fear. He would have had the dream again, the dream of fire and smoke, of huge shadowy figures leaning over him, waving swords and axes. Of cruel laughter, of crackling flames and screams. Of trying to get away, but not being able to move. That nightmare had come to him from the time he was very small, and he sometimes wondered if it was partly a memory of what had happened to him when his people were attacked, when he was a tiny baby.

    One night Aidan and Pangur came up to where Brendan was working and Aidan said to Pangur, ‘Not bad. I’d say he could do it, right enough.’
    Pangur miaowed in agreement.
    Brendan looked up from where he was carefully sketching an angel’s face. He had drawn the figure balanced on a green stem, sitting there in a way that reminded him of Aisling.
    ‘Do what?’ he asked, his mind still on his work.
    Aidan went to the window and stood with his back to Brendan.
    ‘I must confess, my boy, I haven’t been completely honest with you. I cannot do the Chi Ro page. My eyes have become too old and my hands unsteady.’
    He turned to Brendan. His face was very serious.
    ‘You should be the one to do the Chi Ro page!’

6 The eye of colmcille
    ‘M e?’ Brendan could not believe his ears. ‘I couldn’t do the Chi Ro page! I’m only a boy! You are the master craftsman. You know what to do. If I tried to do it, I’d only ruin it …’
    ‘You know, I don’t think you would,’ said Aidan. ‘I have watched you. It’s not just that your eyes are as sharp and your hand is as steady as any I’ve ever seen. You have the gift of sight, my lad, of inner sight, of the eye of the imagination. Your only problem is that you are a bit afraid of it yourself. If you are ever to light up the Chi Ro page, you will have to face up to your