The rocky shoreline of Loch Ness in Scotland. The lake empties into the River Ness to the north east, which then runs into the North Sea at Inverness.
THE first thing Columba saw as he went down to the River Ness, hoping to cross to the other side, was that the only boat was moored on the far bank.
The second was that on this side, some villagers were digging a grave.
It seemed that a man had been mauled by a wild thing in the waters, and though they had dragged him out he was already dead. Columba drank this information in, then asked for a volunteer to swim over and fetch the coble for him.
Lugne Mocumin gamely stripped off and waded into the river. But he had not gone far when the waters appeared to boil, and whatever lurked there rushed at him, mouth agape.
The creature had closed to a spear-length when Columba traced the sign of the cross and rebuked it. Almost as if yanked upon a leash, it fell back into its own wake, and disappeared.
Lugne completed his crossing, and rowed back with the boat.
Précis
In 565, St Columba, hoping to cross the River Ness, saw some villagers burying a man who had just been mauled by a river monster. Columba’s fellow-monk Lugne Mocumin volunteered to swim across and fetch a boat, but as he went the monster came for him. Columba made the sign of the cross, and the creature turned tail and vanished. (59 / 60 words)
