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St. Columba and the Loch Ness Monster

In the sixth century northern Scotland was a wild place inhabited by a people called the Picts, of whom little is known for certain. They appear in the records of Roman writers on occasion but are otherwise ignored, and what they have left behind does not give us much insight into who they were as a people.   We do know that they were pagans, and in the mid sixth century the Irish missionary St. Columba began to travel though the Scottish Highlands from his abbey at Iona. One day they were travelling along the bank of a lake, or river, when they came across a group of Pictish men burying one of their fellows. Enquiring as to what had happened Columba and his men were told that he had been savaged by a monster that dwelt in the lake and terrorised the local peoples since time immemorial.   Asking why anyone would take such a risk as to swim in those waters. The Picts indicated to the other bank on which there was a boat. Realising the usefulness of such a craft here, for the lake was long and its waters calm. Columba told one of his companions, a man named Lunge to swim across the lake to retrieve the boat. While the man's immediate reaction is lost to history (probably for the better) he nonetheless entered the water and struck out for the far bank. He had gone halfway when, from out of the depths there came a terrible cry, issued by a monstrous sight. A reptilian head on a long slender neck had risen out of the water, the true sizer of the beast hinted by a hump breaking the surface some distance behind the neck, and turned its evil gaze upon Lunge. It surged towards him through the water. As dread seized both him and those watching from the shore Columba rushed to the shore and traced the Sign of the Cross before him. With the words: "Go no further. Do not touch the man. Go back at once.". The monster froze and recoiled, as if it was being pulled away, before diving back beneath the surface.    No more would the monster trouble the people who lived around Loch Ness. Though from time to time, some still claim to catch sight of her.   Tus is told the legend of St. Columba and the Loch Ness Monster; and of how the people of the highlands were inspired to become followers of his faith.

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