Reading Notes: Saints and Animals, Part B
Though the story of Saint Francis of Assisi was the most familiar to me out of this half of the unit, and I found the story of The Wolf-Mother of Saint Ailbe to be the most interesting, neither is readily approachable (to me at least) for retelling. The set of three ballads, however, are perfect for use in a set of microfictions. Being originally presented in poem form, they present a perfect opportunity for a straight retelling in narrative form, rather than changing any major aspects of the stories. A brief summary of each ballad is as follows:
The Ballad of Saint Athracta's Stags from The Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown:
In this tale, a young noblewoman, Saint Athracta, unsatisfied with the life laid out for her, flees along with one of her maids and founds a hostel of sorts in the forest. At some point, however, the king decrees that all must be of service building a great fort. Saint Athracta and her maid gather up wood for the fort, and her friends, the stags, help her to carry it as their horses are too old and weak. Seeing this, the king is impressed and makes her his queen.
Though I said I wouldn't be making any major changes to these stories, I do think that I will change the ending of this one out of respect to the real Saint Athracta who actually became the abbess of a monastery.
The Ballad of Saint Felix from The Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown:
This story follows the failed attempt by the soldiers of a heathen emperor to capture (and presumably kill) Saint Felix. Saint Felix momentarily evades the soldiers by truthfully answering their question of whether or not he had seen Felix, buying him time to hide before they realized that he was Felix. Though the only hiding spot available to him was a poor one, Felix still managed to evade the soldiers as god sent down a spider to web up the entrance to his hiding spot, convincing them that it was long abandoned.
The Ballad of Saint Giles and the Deer from The Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown:
This final ballad tells the story of Saint Giles, an old hermit who lived alone in the woods, whose only friend was a deer. One day, however, hunters came through the forest, chasing the animal. Saint Giles threw himself between the hunters and deer, being struck with an arrow in the process, and giving the ultimatum that they must kill him first to get to their prey. As it turned out, it was the hunting party of the king who, being impressed with the saint's compassion and courage, spares both him and the deer. The king himself stayed with Saint Giles to ensure that he recovered from his wound and in the process learned much and decided to become a Christian himself, as well as granting protection to the saint's hermitage from hunting.
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