Saint Brendan's Stone
When Saint Brendan returned from his travels far to the West he thanked God at the Abbey and laid down the only gift he bought back from his travels, a stone with an eye carved on one end and a rune on the other. It was given him by a dwarf far to the West. This stone floats if placed on water and the gem points to the Last Isle of the West. The rune is a variant of the Norse Reith rune which resembles the letter 'r'. This is called the “Styrimathr” (STEE-ri-mah-thur) meaning in Norse “the Captain of the Seas path”. It is carried in a small silk purse by the Abbot of the Abbey of St. Enda.
Read more about this topic: Enda Of Aran
Famous quotes containing the words saint and/or stone:
“A saint addicted to excessive self-abnegation is a dangerous associate; he may infect you with poverty, and a stiffening of those joints which are needed for advancementin a word, with more renunciation than you care forand so you flee the contagion.”
—Victor Hugo (18021885)
“Why silk is soft and the stone wounds
The child shall question all his days,
Why night-time rain and the breasts blood
Both quench his thirst hell have a black reply.”
—Dylan Thomas (19141953)