CHAPTER 12: How on a journey he foretold that provisions would be brought by an eagle
CHAPTER 12
How on a journey he foretold that provisions would be brought by an eagle
HE had gone out one day to preach as usual, taking a boy with him for company. Long before reaching their destination they were tired out. Cuthbert said to the boy, to test him: ‘Tell me, son, where do you intend to eat today? Will you be able to turn in at friends on the way?’
‘I was thinking about that myself,’ answered the lad. ‘We did not bring anything with us when we set out, and there is no one to ask a meal from. We cannot cover the rest of the journey fasting, without doing ourselves an injury.’
‘Learn to have constant faith and hope in the Lord,’ answered Cuthbert. ‘He who serves God shall never die of hunger.’ He looked up and saw an eagle flying high overhead. ‘Do you see that eagle up there? God is quite capable of sending us food by it.’
They were making their way along a river, talking about such things, when they suddenly saw the eagle settling down on the bank.
‘There,’ said the saint, ‘is the servant I was telling you about. Run and see what God has sent and bring it back quickly.’
The boy brought back a big fish which the bird had just caught.
‘What!’ said the saint. ‘Did you not give the servant its share? Cut it in two, quickly now, and give half to the bird.’
The boy did as he was told. They put in at the next village and had the rest boiled. They and the family who cooked it for them had a most enjoyable meal. Cuthbert preached to them and praised God for His bounty, for ‘blessed is the man whose hope is in the Lord and who has not sought after vanity or idle folly’. Then they resumed their journey to those they had set out to teach.