Page 92 - Demo

92 Stephen Dunford: The Journey of The IrIsh
be a copy of an earlier, though much shorter biography attributed to the seventh abbot of Iona, Cuimhín/Cummin Ailbhe; but it is Part 2 which references one of the most interesting stories associated with Colm, the aforementioned meeting with the Loch Ness Monster. Its probably true to say that the story of the Loch Ness monster almost certainly has its origins in the Vita of Colmcille, as written by the hagiographer and Abbot of Iona, Adomnán.
The story goes that one day while on one of his many wanderings deep in the heart of the Pictish territory in the Scottish highlands, Colm Cille arrived at the shore of a large fresh-water loch whereupon he came across a group of men who were preparing a burial for one of their own. According to the story, the group who were known to Colm, or he to them, informed him that the deceased man had earlier been swimming in the loch when he was seized and severely bitten by what they believed was a water monster ‘aquatilis bes- tia,’ and as a result of the attack, the unfortunate man died. Upon hearing the tale, Colm instructed one of the men to swim across the loch and collect a boat which was tethered on the other side. The man agreed, but when he was but half way across the loch, the monster once again appeared from the very depths of the water. When the monster broke the surface it roared and bellowed in terrifying anger, so much so that the exertions caused great white horses of waves to form on the surface of the lake, which in turn flung and tossed the poor swimmer into the air. As soon as the monster spotted what he thought was to be his second
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