Historical Setting: The Great Skellig, 924 C.E.
I can see both sides of this matter regarding winter stores. Brother Lugh worries that with no boat coming the supplies at the monastery will run out. And Sister Brigid perceives his worry as his failure of faith. Will God not provide? And it is her garden and her goats that are the only sources of food production here on this Skellig. She rules the source of any possible winter stash.
Brother Lugh spends half of his required prayer time, and all of his personal time now, down at her garden, nurturing every little late season carrot and leek to fatten the stores for the famine to come in a lean winter. Surely, this must be pestering Sister Brigid. So today I went down there to see how they are both dealing with their differing notions of resources.
I find Lugh milking the goats.
I tease, “So, your papa raised a milkmaid?”
“No. We never had goats, or cows. The farmers of Kerry filled our pitcher and traded hen’s eggs and cheese for the promise of my father calling on them in times of illness.”
“So, in your family’s food was bartered.”
“We said ‘gifted,’ in exchange for medical care.”
“But even if your father didn’t raise the food directly, wouldn’t you still be subject to famine if there was a drought or mishap that took the pastures and gardens of the farmers?”
“For us, it never happened. We never starved, nor was I ever a famished beggar, but I can imagine it would be horrible.”
“I think Sister Brigid knows well the suffering of winters with empty coffers. Did you know, she and her brother were left alone on the Skellig when they were young children? On the mainland, she told me, they were orphans living on the seashore with no one to take them in fear of Brother Timothy’s silence. And anyway, he preferred the hermit’s life. Sister Brigid choose not to leave her brother and now she is the one who welcomes people here.”
“So, you are saying I should trust Sister Brigid to prepare for winter, even though she seems oblivious to the need?”
“She’s not oblivious. She said God would provide.”
Just now, Sister Brigid is coming up from the garden.
“Good Sister, I just came down here to find this secret place where Brother Lugh steals away to so often. And here I find you’ve turned him into a milk maid.”
“He has good hands.”
I’d not really noticed that about him. I have to wonder…
(Continues tomorrow)
