One student related how one of Lugh’s magicians claimed he could throw down mountains until their tops rolled on the ground. Another student added a tale from the Courtship of Etaine about how Oengus obtained the help of the
Tuatha Dé Danann
in clearing a dozen plains and in hollowing out twelve river valleys, all in a single night.
“That sounds like something from the book of Isaiah,” said Jesus. “In his prophecy of the coming of the Messiah, he says that every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be made low. There shall be a voice crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord, to make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
“I think I can name another of your elements,” Jesus continued. “I remember you blowing air upon the pirates from the battlement of Rumps Castle.”
“That would be an example of the druidic wind,” Elsigar replied. “Can anyone tell us where the element of air is found in our teachings?”
Another student answered that the druid Mog Ruith used the druidic wind to turn his enemies to stone with the assistance of the gods in the Siege of Druim Damghaire. Others speculated that gods and goddesses often took the form of crows and swans because the air was a mysterious realm where only sacred beings can move about.
“Are there examples of this element of air in the Scripture of your people?” Elsigar asked Jesus.
“In the book of Genesis, after God formed man from the dust of the earth, he breathed into his nostrils to give him the breath of life. In the book of Job, God himself took the form of a whirlwind.”
“We’ve named fire, earth, and air,” said Elsigar. “Who can name the final element?”
The students quickly settled upon water. They talked about sacred thermal springs and how various springs, wells, and fountains were known to purify and cure in both the spiritual and physical planes. Jesus responded with a story of the prophet Moses parting the Red Sea. He also spoke of how the Spirit of God moved upon the waters of chaos at the time of Creation.
“That is good, but you have left out the greatest teaching about water as a spiritual element,” said Elsigar. “Remember the story of the cauldron of Bran Vendigeit and how it brought cadavers back to life.” He turned to Jesus. “Do you remember that discussion at Samhain?”
“Yes, I remember,” said Jesus. “I told you then that the story reminded me of something from my Scripture, when Elisha told Namaan how the waters of Jordan would cure his leprosy. It could not be just any water; it had to be the waters of the Jordan. The legend of Bran’s cauldron takes the point further, because the soldiers first had to die before they were reborn in the cauldron.”
“As I recall, you said that point rang true with you, but it did not seem to come directly from your Scripture.”
“I have tried to think about that since,” said Jesus. “I am not sure how anyone can be born again. We cannot go back into the womb of our mothers.”
“The womb is only how we are born of the flesh,” said Elsigar. “We do not need the womb of our mothers to be born again of the spirit. Perhaps that is something your Messiah will show your people when the time comes.”
Now I’ve given Jesus something to ponder.
When Elsigar dismissed the class, Jesus lingered. “I am glad I was inspired to come. When I first arrived on these shores, I thought that druids were nothing more than pagans. I see now that we can learn much from each other.”
“Maybe we need each other even more than you think,” said Elsigar. “Bran’s cauldron has been destroyed, but you say your people have a river of holy water. It seems to me they have no idea how to use it.”
Kendrick and his sons held the craft as Joseph waded out from the shore. It was a crude structure of reeds, branches, and pieces of wreckage, lashed together with vines. At first Joseph had thought Kendrick had taken leave of his senses, when the Armorican captain had begun to gather up pieces of driftwood, and carved joints to bind them without so much as a nail. Joseph had to give Kendrick and his sons credit: they had fashioned a craft—more a raft than anything else—with only the few knives they had kept on their persons through the shipwreck.
Kendrick had erected a crude rig with a small square sail made from their rags. With only a small oar carved from a branch to steer by and no keel, they would be at the mercy of wind and wave. For now a fair wind blew from inland, but would it take them to a more hospitable shore? Would they die of thirst in the middle of doldrums? Would the fragile craft even hold together through the pounding of waves? Kendrick had certainly done as well as any man might, but he made no promises.
It was madness to go, but it would be madness to stay, too. As he stood in the water next to the craft, Joseph closed his eyes and prayed for protection. When he reopened his eyes, he knew at once his prayer had been answered. A rainbow spanned the distant horizon.
Daniel applied another compress to Mary’s forehead. The fever was not as bad as the day before, but she was still pale and weak. He had Roman coin to hire workmen now, but she was far too ill to care for herself, and he still felt obliged to stay at Mary’s bedside.
He looked up and saw a Celtic woman at the doorway. He smiled at her. This was the first visitor since Mary had taken ill.
“I am Tomzica,” she said. “I came by to ask about Mary. I have not seen her for more than a week. I hope you don’t think that I am intruding, but I was worried.”
“Come in. She is sleeping deeply. I don’t think you will wake her.”
The woman came in and sat on the bed. She put her hand on Mary’s forehead. “The fever does not seem so bad.”
“It was much worse a few days ago. I was afraid of losing her. She’s been getting better, but she is still very weak.”
“You didn’t tell anyone she was sick?”
“I did not think of it.”
“Men! Humph! You are always too proud. You think it is shameful to have sickness in your family.”
“I wasn’t trying to keep anything secret. I was just so busy taking care of her—”
“Yet how is anyone supposed to know if you don’t tell someone? We wondered what had happened to her. She lives in this house so far away from any neighbors, and we thought she just wanted to be by herself. We never can tell what you outlanders might be doing, and no one wanted to intrude. Here, give me that compress. This is woman’s work.”
“But she’s my family, my responsibility—”
“Just as it was up to me to take care of my little girl. Mary was an angel, coming by every day when my little Guinevere fell ill.”
Within a day, women from the surrounding homesteads were taking turns at Mary’s bedside. Daniel began to feel useless, but also relieved. The next day Mary was staying awake, talking and laughing with her visitors. She was clearly in capable hands.
With the crops planted in the surrounding fields, most of his workmen were ready to come back, and now Daniel had the coin to pay them. “I’ll be in Priddy,” Daniel told Tomzica. “You must send for me immediately if Aunt Mary takes a turn for the worse.”
“Tsk.”
Tomzica shooed him out of the house. “Of course we will. Now go about your business.”
Daniel’s heart lifted as he gathered his men and supplies and started toward Priddy. All he had to do now was gather samples of the ore, and Grengan would grant the claim.
The villagers in Priddy seemed pleased to see Daniel return with his men. They told him that Horshak’s men were digging near the discharge of the Cheddar from the nearby cave.
Good for Horshak, he must have found another lode
.
Later, though, one of his men pointed out someone spying on them from the nearby woods. Daniel thought better of setting out immediately for the lode site he and Jesus had discovered the previous season. Instead, he took a few trusted men and headed out to do his own reconnaissance of Horshak’s work.
Daniel soon had his answer. Horshak’s dig was nowhere near the discovery Jesus had made. But this was no coincidence. Daniel could tell why Horshak’s men were digging in this place. Someone had seen the map, but they had not understood it.
Leaving his men to prepare their huts for another season, Daniel took a horse and galloped off. He was soon in Grengan’s house in the Lake Village, pleading his case.
“I tell you that Horshak is spying on us, ready to steal our rightful claim. His men are watching us. If I bring my men to the site, Horshak will have his men digging right next to us.”
“I cannot grant your claim until I see the ore samples,” Grengan replied. “Those are the rules we set, to be fair to you outlanders and to my own people. You must bring me the sample first.”
“But I can tell that Horshak saw our map, or maybe someone else did and told him what was on it.”
Grengan waved his hands helplessly. “I am afraid that’s a claim you need to take up with the druidess.”
“Esmeralda! You can’t be serious!”
“I know she has no love for you or your family. But if you accuse Horshak of spying, it is out of my hands. That is a matter for the druid, not the king. And one other thing: you had better be prepared for a trial by combat, with Esmeralda as the referee.”
“I would have to fight Horshak?”
“That is our way.”
Daniel rolled his eyes. “It’s our discovery, but Horshak has more men. He’ll reach the ore first if he starts digging alongside us, even if we have a day’s head start.”
“I have an idea for you. You should fast against him. Call on him with the power of the fast to stop spying on you and leave you to work on your claim without interference.”
At first Daniel thought the idea was crazy, but Grengan explained the ancient Celt custom for seeking redress from a wrongdoer.
What do I have to lose?
The next day, Daniel was back at Priddy. He let his workmen go but told them to be ready to return soon. He then walked boldly to the site where Horshak’s men were digging. They looked up from their work as Daniel took a seat on a nearby log. He waited for the men to get back to work. Then he started laughing and jeering at them, saying that there was no silver, and how they were working for a thief. One by one, Horshak’s men looked up at him, listened, and then went back to their digging.
For the rest of that day, Daniel took no food or drink. Nor did he eat or drink on the next day or the day after. Horshak’s men did not respond directly to Daniel’s taunts, but they began to look more embarrassed every day.
Viktrica tried not to be too obvious as she glanced at the outlander sitting serenely on the mat next to hers, waiting for the class to begin. This Jesus bar Joseph fellow from Nazareth, a town she’d never heard of on the far side of the Roman Empire, was quite the enigma. He had been with the class now for nine nights. It was odd how he insisted on devoting himself to his prayers every seventh day, when everyone knew there were nine days in a week.
And why would his people blindly obey a single god? Jesus himself had told the class about how this god had left his people to suffer captivity and slavery many times at the hands of the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and others. He tried to make the point that this one true god of his had actually redeemed his people, even parting the sea for them, but what kind of people would follow a god who made them suffer across so many generations? In the druid pantheon, no god would ever abandon for so long the people who sought his protection, lest they turn to another patron deity.
Whatever the quirks of his religion, this Jesus was certainly handsome. He would be past the day of his
aimsir togu
¸ the seventeenth name day when a boy became a man; but he was the hero of Rumps, already the subject of tales from the lyres of bards from far and wide. Such heroic youths needed no rite of passage.
Viktrica was a few years older than Jesus, but that did not stop her mind from wandering to thoughts of sharing the intimacy of her body in his bed. Would he be the virile stallion or the gentle lamb? Either way, she meant to have him.
Viktrica looked up. Elsigar was looking right at her as he called the class to order.
I am finished if he reads the thoughts in my mind. Can a druid with his powers really do that?
She sighed with relief as he turned his attention to the class.
Elsigar began to talk about Gargantua, the druid deity known to the Celts as the father of all. “Julius Caesar called him the Jupiter god, but Jupiter was no Gargantua,” he said. Elsigar did not pause to review Gargantua’s mighty deeds, which everyone knew. Instead he asked about his true nature. “Who was Gargantua’s mother?”
Viktrica raised her hand. “That would have been Gargamelle.”
Elsigar called on another student. “And what does that name, and even the name of her son, suggest to you?”
“The names are based upon the word
gargam
.”
“Curved thigh?” Jesus asked.
The other student explained, “Both Gargantua and his mother are lame.”
“Excellent,” Elsigar responded. “And yet, in tale after tale we find that Gargantua is the most powerful of the gods. He swings a club that kills with one end, even as he can use it to restore life with the other. His magic harp, which he alone can play, has within it all the melodies of the world, and he can use it to slay men even as he plays its music for the wonderment of all. He is the fiercest of warriors, even among the gods. Just the sight of his virile member, standing forth long and erect, brings fear to the hearts of his enemies and unbounded pleasures to women.”
Another student raised his hand to comment. “Gargantua’s powers are a striking contrast to the deformity of his legs, but he is not alone among the gods in possessing strength through weakness and deformity. The all-seeing Odin has only one eye. Nuada, the god who distributes plenty, has only one arm.”
Elsigar asked, “Is there a lesson in this for mortals?”
The class fell silent.
Even Jesus looked perplexed.
Then Genofi, the youngest student in the class, raised his hand. Though little more than a boy, he was something of a prodigy, advanced far beyond his years. “I think there can be strength in weakness. Perhaps those weak in the flesh can be strong in the spirit, and those strongest in the flesh might be weakest in the spirit.”