University of Virginia Library


19

St Patrick escapes his Enemies

There were nine clerics with Patrick that day,
Whom the King's men were sent to slay;
But lo, where men were one and nine,
Were now no men, but amid the kine
Nine tall deer feeding and one white fawn,
Mild and tender against the dawn.
So they returned to the King and said:
“We saw no men, O King, but instead
Nine stately deer and a fawn snow white.”
And the Druid: “Enchantment was on their sight—
The fawn was Patrick, the deer were his men;
A great magician is Patrick then.”