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Chapter 1

• Brother Cadfael is tending the monastery garden when he is summoned for mass, where he listens to Prior Robert whine that it is important to acquire a relic to give prestige to the abbey.

• The brothers rush outside when they hear a loud cry from Brother Columbanus, who is convulsing from "falling sickness," a seizure-inducing illness.

• Brother Columbanus is taken to the infirmary, cared for by Brother Jerome, and given an herbal sedative by Brother Cadfael.

• The next morning, Brother Jerome relates a dream he had of St. Winifred, who tells him that there is a spring in Wales that appeared where she was martyred, and that Brother Columbanus will be healed if he bathes in this spring.

• Brother Rhys tells Winifred's life story.

• According to Brother Rhys, Winifred was the only child of a knight, and she devoted her life to God.

• When Winifred ran from...

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