Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions

172 Old Irish Relio-ions.
the stones of Ireland become a happy talisman which one
can employ against these animal nuisances, and the soil
upon which they are thrown will not be able to nourish the
serpents."
But there are competitors for the glory of reptile expulsion.
St. Kevin, the hero of the Seven Churches of Wicklow,
is stated to have caused the death of the last Irish serpent,
by setting his dog Lupus to kill it. This event was commemorated
by a carved stone placed under the east
window of Glendalough Cathedral, delineating the struggle
between Lupus and the snake. This stone was stolen by
a visitor on the 28th of August, 1839.
Again, the gallant conqueror of, or conquered by, the
Irish Danes, King Brian Boroimhe, we are assured by an
ancient MS., had a famous son, Murchadh, who destroyed
all serpents to be found in Ireland. This is mentioned in
the Erse story of the Battle of Clontarf.
St. Cado, of Brittany, was an expeller of serpents from
Gaul ; and Doue de Gozon expelled them from Malta.
Even Colomba did the same good service for lona, as others
of his disciples did for Donegal. On the tombstone of the
Grand Master of Malta, 1342, are the words, Di^aconis
Extinctor. Among the heroes of serpent-destroyers were
also St. Clement, the vanquisher of the Dragon of Metz ;
St. Marcel, the deliverer of Paris from the monster ;
and
St. Romain, whose exploits were immortalized over the
gargouille of Paris, not to speak of German, Spanish,
Russian, and other Saints—Michael. The serpent is the
Divine Wisdom of several lands.
One meaning, however, for these revelations of a miracle,
has been found. Keating, the Irish historian, fancies the
vv^hole must be taken in a figurative sense, referring to the
expelling from the converts of the old Serpent, the Devil.
O'Neill, also, observes— " The conquest which the Irish