, from that on to the end of the
lesson; and the fox would be awaiting the lesson obediently till its
writing on wax was completed, and thereafter he would carry it with
him to Ciaran.[11]

Once on a time his natural treacherousness broke forth in the fox, and
he began to eat the book: for he was greedy for the leather that was
bound around the book outside. While he was eating the book, there
came Oengus son of Cremthann with kernes and with hounds, so that they
chased him, and he found no sanctuary till he came under the cloak of
Ciaran. The name of God and Ciaran's were magnified by the rescue of
the book from the fox and by the rescue of the fox from the hounds.
The book is what is now called the "Tablet of Ciaran."

Most consonant with these things is it for evil men who are near to
the Church, and who profit by the advantages of the Church--communion,
and baptism, and food, and teaching--and withal stay not from
persecuting the Church, until there come upon themselves the
persecution of some king, or mortality, or a disease unknown: and then
they needs must flee under the protection of the Church, as the fox
went under the cloak of Ciaran![12]

VIII. HOW CIARAN SPOILED HIS MOTHER'S DYE

8. A certain day the mother of Ciaran was making blue dye, and she
had reached the point of putting the garments therein. Then said his
mother to him, "Get thee out, Ciaran." For they thought it unbecoming
that males should be in the house when garments were being dyed. "May
there be a dun stripe upon them!" said Ciaran. Of all the garments
that were put into the dye, there was not one that had not a dun
stripe upon it. The dye is prepared again, and his mother said, "Go
out, Ciaran, this time, and now, Ciaran, let there be no dun stripe."
Then he said--

Alleluia Domine!
White my mother's dye let be!
When in my hand it's gone,
Be it white as bone!
When boiling it is stirred,
Be it white as curd!

Accordingly every garment that was placed therein was of a uniform
whiteness. For the third time is the dye made. "Ciaran," said his
mother, "hurt me not the dye now, but let it receive a blessing from
thee." When Ciaran blessed the dye, never was dye made so good, before
or since; for though all the garments of Cenel Fiachrach (_sic_) were
placed in its _iarcain_, it would turn them blue; and at the last it
turned blue the dogs and the cats and the trees that came in contact
with it.

IX. HOW CIARAN R