Everyone made Tadhg welcome, for he told wonderful stories. And while the brother never asked for food or fishing line or a length of woolen cloth, he never went home without a full satchel, for folk had not forgotten his feat of navigation. They admired his courage even as they recognized the folly of his voyage.

When he came to the Whaleback, Tadhg would sit in his usual place on a bench near the fire, his half-shaven head shining pink in the glow of the flames. All the brothers adopted the same odd style, with the front part of the skull bald as an egg. This tonsure was the way of their brotherhood, Tadhg had explained, though there was another kind, where just a circle on top of the head was shaved. It had been the cause of much dispute among the adherents to their faith, almost as much as the method of calculating the right day of the year for the holy feast of spring, which he called Easter. There had been great unrest over that issue in his own country. Nessa thought perhaps that was why Brother Tadhg and the others had voyaged so far across the sea: simply for peace and quiet.

When she was smaller, Nessa used to beg Tadhg for stories. Most of them she had loved. There was one about a boy who defeated a giant. There was one about a man who lived inside a whale. There was one about a great flood, and another about a magical coat. Those were good tales, and easy to understand. It was the stories about that fellow called Jesus Christ, who was both man and god, that she’d found difficult. Nobody in the household really followed those. After all, Jesus’ disciples had been sturdy fishermen and farmers, and the ordinary people had followed and supported him. Why hadn’t he fought back, in the end? What sort of man lets himself be captured, tortured, and strung up to die? A sacrifice, Tadhg had explained gravely. To save mankind from wickedness. But there still is wickedness, someone said. Whatever it was meant to do, it didn’t work. Then came the catch: if they wanted it to work, they must lay down their arms and follow this Christ; must put aside the old gods and take the new one, the only one, according to Tadhg. All men must love one another, and if your enemy smite you, turn the other cheek. This was the point at which the audience tended to go off into gales of laughter. If a man acted thus, would not he live a short life indeed? Fail to stand against your foes, and you stood to lose farm and family, stock and land. What about the brothers themselves? Where had this strange faith got them? Adrift on the sea in a vessel more like a child’s toy than a real boat, and washed up far from home.

“We are rich in God’s blessings,” Tadhg would say, smiling.