'The Voyage of St Brendan,' in The Age of Bede
edited by J.F. Webb and D.H. Farmer
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“Brendan’s Voyage was written down in Latin probably in the 800s, and is called the Navigatio Sancti Brendanni Abbatis. The way the story develops has a lot in common with fairy tales. The narrator will tell you something quite pedestrian and pragmatic, such as how to build a boat, then drop in the most amazing occurrences – talking birds, a whale you could walk around on and light a fire on, a land where troll-like figures could throw burning rocks and lava at you (probably an eyewitness description of an Icelandic volcanic eruption). Brendan and his companions reach a kind of promised land which could well be Maine or the coast of Newfoundland.” Read more...
Gavin Francis, Travel Writer
