they remove it.  So being unable to resist the will of the All-Powerful, they beseech as suppliants pardon of the man of God, then present.  Mindful of his Master as He prayed for the Jews who were crucifying Him, he, a holy one, poured forth prayers for them, unworthy as they were, to the Fount of Piety; and strengthened by the virtue of his prayer, they were able to convey their boat quite easily to the water.  In payment for this benefit he obtained from the robbers the heads of his brethren.  When he had received these, he made his way back to the place where their bodies had been lying, and fervently asked of God to show forth His omnipotence in the resuscitation of His servants in this life.  Wondrous is what I relate, but in the truth of fact most manifest.  He fitted the heads to the bodies, and recalled them to life by the virtue of the holy prayer—­nay, rather, what is more correct, he obtained their recall.  These, thus marvellously resuscitated, bore timber back to the monastery.  But so long as they lived they bore the scars of the wounds on their necks.

IX.  HOW CIARAN RESTORED A CALF WHICH A WOLF HAD DEVOURED

8.  At another time when he was keeping the herds of his parents in a certain place, a cow gave birth to a calf in his presence.  But a [hound], altogether wasted with leanness, came, desiring to fill [his belly] with whatso falleth from the body of the mother with the calf, and stood before the dutiful shepherd.  To which he said, “Eat, poor wretch, yonder calf, for great is thy need of it.”  The hound, fulfilling the commands of Queranus, devoured the calf down to the bones.  But as Queranus returned with the kine to the house, that one, recalling her calf to memory, was running hither and thither, lowing; and the mother of Queranus, recognising the cause of the lowing, said with indignation to the boy, “Quiranus, restore the calf, though it be burnt with fire or drowned with water.”  But he, obeying his mother’s commands, making his way to the place where the calf had been devoured, collected its bones and resuscitated the calf.

V. HOW CIARAN WAS DELIVERED FROM A HOUND

9.  At a certain time, when he was passing along a road, certain men spurred by a malignant spirit incited a most savage dog to do him a hurt.  But Queranus, trusting in his Lord, fortified himself with the shield of devout prayer, and said, “Deliver not to beasts the souls of them that trust in Thee, O Lord”:  and soon that dog died.

XXXI.  HOW CIARAN FLOATED A FIREBRAND ON THE LAKE

10.  At another time when he was left alone in that island, he heard a poor man in the harbour asking that fire be given to him.  For it was now the time of cold:  but he had no boat whereby to satisfy the petition of the poor man, though much he desired to do so.  And because charity suffereth all things, he cast a burning firebrand into the lake, and the heat of love that sent it prevailing over the waters, it came to the poor man.