york00orns

HILDA.— CAUmO'S. 67
awkward shyness when asked by his fellows to sing in
his turn one of the rude ballads with which they
enlivened their festive gatherings. On one occasion,
when urged to do so, he rushed away, ashamed of
his shortcomings. He laid him down to sleep alongside
the cattle he tended, and dreamed a dream.
Some one stood by, called him by his name, and bade
him sing. " I cannot," was his reply ;" " I left my
companions for that very reason." " But I call upon
thee to sing to me. and I will take no denial," said
his visitor. ''What shall I sing, then?" asked
Casdmon.
" Let thy song be of the beginning of all
created things," was the answer. And straightway a
hymn of praise seemed to flow from his lips, and he
glorified the Maker of all. The words which he
sang in his dream clung to his memory when he
awoke, and he told of the " gift he had received."
" The Mother " heard of it. By her orders a passage
of Holy Writ was read to him and he was bidden to
versify it. He obeyed, and so perfectly was his task
fulfilled that Hilda urged him to join her community,
and bade him be instructed in all the wondrous histories
contained in the Divine Word. He was an apt
learner, a humble and docile scholar. And no long time
passed by ere his teachers listened with rapt attention
and silent wonder to the outflow of his wondrous gift,
as he sang of the wonders of Creation, the formation
of man by an Almighty Hand, the successive histories
of the Patriarchal times, the leading of Israel out of
Egypt, and the entrance of the Chosen People into
the land of Promise. The Gospel record furnished
also its mighty theme,—the Incarnation of the Lord