_Of the Pitfalls passed over without danger, and the Prophecies of the
Saint._
And certain other sons of darkness, dwelling in the plain called Liffy,
digged deep pitfalls in many parts of the public pathway, the which
they covered with branches and green sods, that the saint when
journeying might fall unawares therein. But a certain damsel
discovered the contrived snare, and she hastened to show it unto the
man of God, that he might avoid the mischief. Then he, trusting in the
Lord, commanded his people to drive forward the horses, and, having
blessed them, he passed over with unfailing foot. For the soft and
tender herbage supported them like the solid earth, inasmuch as the
holy troop bore in their hearts and on their bodies Him who bore all
things. And the priest of God sent the damsel unto her father, that
she might bring him into his presence to receive the salvation of his
soul. And the damsel did even as he commanded, and brought before him
her father; and at the preaching of the saint the man believed, and
with his ten sons and his three daughters was baptized. Then did
Patrick consecrate the virgins unto God, and gave to them the sacred
veil; and he prophesied that of the sons five should be happy and
prosperous in a secular life, and that the other five should first
enter the clerical order, and at length holily live and die in the
monastic habit; but unto them who had treacherously prepared the pit
for him and for his people he foretold that they and their seed should
pass their life in providing their sustenance and continually digging
in the ground, and that, according to the Scripture, poverty should
come on them like water. And all these things which the saint
prophesied did the event prove.