Reading Diary: Week 3: Saints and Animals

Below I have presented my favorite stories from: Saints and Animals

One of the first stories I read was Saint Kentigern and the Robin (part 1), I really enjoyed this part of the story because it teaches a good lesson on that it is not a good idea to try to frame others when you feel jealousy towards them. I think that a lot of the time is seems easier to make someone fail who is doing well than to work harder to improve yourself. When you think about it though, that option is in no way furthering yourself but actually halting your own progress.

Another story that I really enjoyed was Saint Comgall and the Mice (part 1) and I really enjoyed this story because originally they were trying to tempt the swans with food and really did not give off a good impression. However the leader of the group gave off the impression that he loved animals so the swan felt comfortable with him.

A story I found that was interesting in this overall story was The Wonders of Saint Berach. I found this story to be interesting because it was about a wolf that was so incredibly hungry that he ate a mother cows calf, and he did so without any thought process. If he had known how important the calf was to the mother then maybe he would have acted differently but he allowed a feeling to trump all other things. After he ate the calf, the wolf and the mother cow were brought together and told to now be mother and son. The wolf was to protect her and she was to be his new gentle and nurturing mother. I enjoyed this because even after all of the anger that was present, they were able to come together and forgive and live a life in harmony together.

This was the final story that really caught y eye in the story of Saints and Animals, The Ballad of Saint Felix. This story was about a Bishop that went in to hiding while there was no peace; he disguised himself to get away. He hid for many months and a spider was able to spin a think and strong web that could protect and house him while he was in hiding, a girl who praised him brought him food over the months of hiding, and when there was finally peace again he came out of hiding. This story was interesting because it showed that he was able to pretend to be someone else to run from the problems that were currently happening. I feel a lesson to take from this story is that even when there are problems present it is important to face them instead of running from them.