and British neighbours, among whom patriotism had, on the disappearance of the civilization of the Romans, revived the more congenial barbarism.  Arrivals among them of Christian monks, scanty at first, more frequent since the landing of S. Augustine in Britain, had also had a certain effect.  The progress of conversion was, however, slow; the people were bigoted, and the good fathers were compelled, as in Brittany, to content themselves with a few genuine converts, wisely endeavouring rather to leaven the mass by grafting Christian truths on the old superstitions than to court certain defeat, possible expulsion or massacre, by striving to overthrow at once all the symbols of heathenism.

The island was larger in extent than it is at present, as, in addition to the Vale district, the islet of Lihou, Vazon Bay, and the rock group known as the Hanois formed part of it.  It is with the events that altered this configuration that the following legend deals.

CHAPTER II.

Superstition.

    “Awestruck, the much-admiring crowd
    Before the virgin vision bowed,
    Gaz’d with an ever-new delight,
    And caught fresh virtues at the sight.”

    Edward MOORE’S Fables.

On the 24th of June, in the year 708, merry crowds were thronging to Vazon Forest.  It was a lovely spot.  The other portions of the island were bare and somewhat rugged; here the humidity of the soil favoured the growth of fine, vigorous timber.  On the low ground flourished oak and sycamore, torn and bent near the shore where the trees met the force of the Atlantic gales, growing freely and with rich verdure where better protected.  On the higher slopes were massed beech, birch, and the sweet chestnut which was even then domesticated in the island.  Glades, bursting with a wealth of flowers nurtured by the mildness of the climate, penetrated the wood in every direction; streams bubbling up from springs, and forming little cascades where their course was checked by granite boulders, lent an additional charm.  Towards the centre of the forest these streams united to form a lake, or rather a natural moat, surrounding an island in the midst of which stood a gigantic oak.  This was the only tree on the island; round it, at even distances, were placed twelve stones, beyond which a meadow glittering with varied hues extended to the surrounding water.

It was to this island that the holiday-makers were wending their way:  young men and maidens, and such elders as had vigour enough to traverse the rough tracks leading from the interior.  They were a small race, lithe and active, with strong black hair and dark eyes now twinkling with merriment They poured over the wooden bridges into the precincts of the towering oak, under which the elders seated themselves with the musicians, the younger people streaming off to the clear ground between the stones and the water.