We have been working on the story of St. Patrick in 1st Class as it is Seachtain na Gaeilge and almost St. Patrick’s Day. We found a very interesting legend about St. Patrick, one we hadn’t heard before! Read on to find out more!
St. Patrick was first brought to Ireland by Niall of the Nine Hostages. Niall was an Irish pirate king who captured Patrick on a raid to Britain. Later Niall sold Patrick to Milchiu as a slave. For six long years Ptrick looked after Milchiu’s herds of pigs on Sliabh Mis, Co. Antrim. During all this time he never once forgot about God as he was a Christian. He prayed one hundred times a day and one hundred times a night. Then, one night Patrick had a strange dream. “Your ship is waiting”, said an angel in his dream. “You must leave Milchiu and travel to the coast”.
Next morning Patrick asked Milchiu for permission to leave. “Slaves are very valuable”, Milchiu shouted. “I paid a piece of gold for you. Unless you give me a piece of gold like it, you will never be set free”.
Patrick knew there was no hope of getting the gold. He was very sad as he returned again to herding on the mountain. While he worked, he prayed. In his prayers he asked God to help him to escape. Then Patrick saw one of the pigs acting in a strange way. It kept running away from the other pigs and looking back all the time. “I think it wants me to follow it,” said Patrick. The pig ran towards a mound of earth at the foot of the hill. It began to root in the soil with its snout. Suddenly, it tossed out a huge piece of gold from the clay. Patrick knew his prayers had been answered.
Patrick brought the gold to Milchiu and asked once again to be set free. You can imagine how surprised Milchiu was to see the huge piece of gold. He grabbed it from Patrick and told him to be off. Then Milchiu ran to hide the gold.
Patrick set off as quickly as he could for the coast. There he found a ship waiting, just as the angel in his dream had promised. He was taken back safely to his home in Britain.
As for Milchiu, when he returned to the place where he had hidden the gold, it was gone. In its place he found a big, black stone!
