The village of Cappercleugh nestles in a corner of St Mary’s Loch in the Scottish Borders, a few miles south of Peebles. A year before this picture was taken, a fire on the hills to the right got out of hand, and the village was fortunate to escape without damage.
Episode 9 of 29 in the Series
Miracles of St Cuthbert
Introduction
While he was a monk at Melrose in the Scottish Borders, then part of the Kingdom of Northumbria, St Cuthbert used to visit lonely villages to tell people about a God very different from the capricious pagan spirits they feared and worshipped. He became a popular figure, able to draw surprising crowds.
CUTHBERT was once addressing a crowd gathered in the street of a small Northumbrian village, when he broke off in mid flow to say:
‘Whatever happens, never let yourselves be distracted by the devil’s trickery.’
Then he resumed his sermon.
Cuthbert was still speaking when a neighbouring house burst abruptly into crackling flame. The villagers, ignoring Cuthbert’s frantic gesticulations, raced off to drench the building in water. But it seemed a most uncanny, unquenchable sort of fire. Soon the whole street was alight.
With a sigh, Cuthbert gave up trying to restrain them, and began to pray instead. And as suddenly as the roaring sheets of flame had come, they gathered themselves up and rolled indignantly away, leaving the hamlet quiet, and the dripping houses not even scorched. The whole drama had been a devilish illusion – a phantasm, a desperate ruse to break up Cuthbert’s congregation.
The shamefaced villagers drifted back, and after some words of comfort and reassurance, Cuthbert continued his preaching.
Next
Taste and See
Based on St Bede’s Life of Cuthbert.
Précis
Moments after St Cuthbert warned a congregation not to let anything distract them from the gospel, a house fire broke out and they rushed off to extinguish it. It was quenched only by Cuthbert prayers, as it was not a real fire but a devlish illusion designed, as Cuthbert had cautioned them, to prevent the villagers hearing the good news. (60 / 60 words)
Moments after St Cuthbert warned a congregation not to let anything distract them from the gospel, a house fire broke out and they rushed off to extinguish it. It was quenched only by Cuthbert prayers, as it was not a real fire but a devlish illusion designed, as Cuthbert had cautioned them, to prevent the villagers hearing the good news.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, because, besides, if, may, must, ought, since.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Crackle. Sermon. Street.
2 Drip. Gather. Speak.
3 Drench. Small. Themselves.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
x
0
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Your Words ()
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