Columba and All That

By Allan Burnett and Scoular Anderson

The illustrated true history of the 6th-century Irish abbot and saint and his evangelical mission in Scotland.

Columba And All That is a real-life adventure packed with historical facts about the legendary Celtic saint. Join Columba as he leaves his home in Ireland for the undiscovered country of Scotland. Witness magic and miracles as Columba confronts the Loch Ness Monster and mysterious painted warriors. Packed with fantastic illustrations, Columba And All That is one man’s epic quest to spread the Word of God in a strange land—and hoping the natives like what they hear!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Aug 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9780857901347

Allan Burnett

Allan Burnett is a freelance writer and editor based in Sweden. He has worked as deputy editor for the Scottish Standard and as deputy foreign editor for the Sunday Herald. He is the author of a number of bestselling children's history books, including World War I Tales of Adventure, World War II Tales of Adventure, The Story of Scotland and Invented in Scotland (all Birlinn).

Book preview

Columba

AND ALL THAT

Allan Burnett

Illustrated by Scoular Anderson

This eBook edition published in 2011 by

Birlinn Limited

West Newington House

Newington Road

Edinburgh

EH9 1QS

www.birlinn.co.uk

First published in 2007 by Birlinn Ltd

Text copyright © Allan Burnett 2007

Illustrations copyright © Scoular Anderson 2007

The moral right of Allan Burnett to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form without the express written permission of the publisher.

eBook ISBN: 978 0 85790 134 7

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

For Roan

Contents

Prologue

1   Welcome to the Dark Age

2   The floating stone

3   The fox and the dove

4   Tough talk

5   War and peace

6   Fantastic voyage

7   A new home

8   Books and burials

9   Good news, bad news

10   Prison island

11   The sea kingdom

12   Painted people

13   Dark water

14   In the court of the mountain king

15   Magic versus miracles

16   Wind of change

17   The return

18   When the saint goes marching in

Epilogue

Also Available

Prologue

The monster lay still and silent on the riverbed. High above, it could see human arms and legs furiously pounding the surface. Someone was trying to swim from one side of the River Ness to the other – and they were making the monster hungry.

The giant creature uncoiled its long, scaly tail and gave it a stretch. Then, with one muscular push, it launched itself from the riverbed towards its victim above. Breaking the surface of the river, it let out a deafening roar.

The swimmer, a young man in a tunic, jerked up his head. He could see the monster coming right at him. He tried to swim away but his muscles were suddenly weak with terror.

The huge creature rose up from the water and opened its giant, gaping jaws. It was going to bite off the young man’s head. One gulp would do it. The youngster shut his eyes. There was a blood-curdling scream …

A voice bellowed from the shore. The giant fish froze.

‘DO NOT TOUCH HIM!’

Slowly, the monster pulled back. The boy still didn’t open his eyes.

Now it was the beast’s turn to tremble with fear. With its mouth still hanging open, it looked up at the owner of the voice and saw a tall, hooded figure in a long cloak. The man raised his hand over the river and made the sign of a cross in the air. Then he fixed the quivering creature with his eyes. ‘GO BACK AT ONCE,’ he commanded.

The monster felt as if an unseen power had gripped him. The force pushed him back through the water, slowly at first, then faster, and faster, until suddenly it plunged him deep below the surface.

Meanwhile, still trembling with shock, the boy opened his eyes. ‘It’s OK,’ the man on the shore reassured him. ‘You’ll be safe now.’ Very gingerly, the boy carried on swimming across the river.

Down below, the monster thought to itself.

Back on the shore of the river, the tall man watched as the boy emerged safely on the opposite bank and waved. Standing behind the man was a group of people. None of them could believe what they had just witnessed.

‘It must be magic,’ someone said. ‘No, it’s not magic,’ said someone else. ‘It’s a miracle.’

‘He must be a wizard,’ said one. ‘No,’ said another. ‘He’s much more powerful than that.’

‘Who is he?’ several people asked at once.

The man turned and faced them all.

1

Welcome to the Dark Age

Columba was no ordinary human being. The dramatic traditional tale you have just read makes that very clear.

He was a holy man, a saint, who lived almost one and