Penguin Island | Page 6

expressed a fear that soon
those misguided men might violently destroy the chapel that had been
built on the shore of their island.
The holy man resolved forthwith to visit his faithless children, so that
he might lead them back to the faith and prevent them from yielding to
such sacrilege. As he went down to the bay where his stone trough was
moored, he turned his eyes to the sheds, then filled with the noise of
saws and of hammers, which, thirty years before, he had erected on the
fringe of that bay for the purpose of building ships.
At that moment, the Devil, who never tires, went out from the sheds
and, under the appearance of a monk called Samsok, he approached the
holy man and tempted him thus:
"Father, the inhabitants of the island of Hoedic commit sins
unceasingly. Every moment that passes removes them farther from God.
They are soon going to use violence towards the chapel that you have
raised with your own venerable hands on the shore of their island. Time
is pressing. Do you not think that your stone trough would carry you
more quickly towards them if it were rigged like a boat and furnished
with a rudder, a mast, and a sail, for then you would be driven by the
wind? Your arms are still strong and able to steer a small craft. It would
be a good thing, too, to put a sharp stem in front of your apostolic
trough. You are much too clear-sighted not to have thought of it
already."
"Truly time is pressing," answered the holy man. "But to do as you say,
Samson, my son, would it not be to make myself like those men of little
faith who do not trust the Lord? Would it not be to despise the gifts of

Him who has sent me this stone vessel without rigging or sail?"
This question, the Devil, who is a great theologian, answered by
another.
"Father, is it praiseworthy to wait, with our arms folded, until help
comes from on high, and to ask everything from Him who can do all
things, instead of acting by human prudence and helping ourselves?
"It certainly is not," answered the holy Mael, "and to neglect to act by
human prudence is tempting God."
"Well," urged the Devil, "is it not prudence in this case to rig the
vessel?"
"It would be prudence if we could not attain our end in any other way."
"Is your vessel then so very speedy?"
"It is as speedy as God pleases."
"What do you know about it? It goes like Abbot Budoc's mule. It is a
regular old tub. Are you forbidden to make it speedier?"
"My son, clearness adorns your words, but they are unduly
over-confident. Remember that this vessel is miraculous."
"It is, father. A granite trough that floats on the water like a cork is a
miraculous trough. There is not the slightest doubt about it. What
conclusion do you draw from that?"
"I am greatly perplexed. Is it right to perfect so miraculous a machine
by human and natural means?"
"Father, if you lost your right foot and God restored it to you, would
not that foot be miraculous?"
"Without doubt, my son."

"Would you put a shoe on it?"
"Assuredly."
"Well, then, if you believe that one may cover a miraculous foot with a
natural shoe, you should also believe that we can put natural rigging on
a miraculous boat. That is clear. Alas! Why must the holiest persons
have their moments of weakness and despondency? The most
illustrious of the apostles of Brittany could accomplish works worthy of
eternal glory . . . But his spirit is tardy and his hand is slothful. Farewell
then, father! Travel by short and slow stages and when at last you
approach the coast of Hoedic you will see the smoking ruins of the
chapel that was built and consecrated by your own hands. The pagans
will have burned it and with it the deacon you left there. He will be as
thoroughly roasted as a black pudding."
"My trouble is extreme," said the servant of God, drying with his sleeve
the sweat that gathered upon his brow. "But tell me, Samson, my son,
would not rigging this stone trough be a difficult piece of work? And if
we undertook it might we not lose time instead of gaining it?"
"Ah! father," exclaimed the Devil, "in one turning of the hour-glass the
thing would be done. We shall find the necessary rigging in this shed
that you have formerly built here on the coast and in those store-houses
abundantly stocked through your care. I will myself regulate all the
ship's fittings. Before being a monk I was a sailor and a