KING LOTH, in common with the
enemies of the Christian faith at and around his court, charged Thenaw
with being a sorceress or witch, and he gave orders that she should be
placed in a frail coracle or boat, and cast adrift at Aberlady to the
mercy of the winds and waves. After tossing about on the sea for some
time, the boat was carried by the current, or as the legend has it, was
borne by a shoal of fishes; first to the Isle of May, and from thence
wafted into a bay on the north side of the Firth of Forth, where the town
of Culross now stands.
There, by the embers of a fire on
the beach, which had been left by some fishermen, the sainted mother gave
birth to her sainted and famous son, as the legend says, amid the joyous
song of angelic hosts around.
