the sheet. Eventually Colman began to talk to the fly, thanked him for his company, and asked for his help: "Do you think you could do something useful for me? You see yourself that everyone who lives in the monastery is useful. Well, if I am called away, as I often am, while I am reading, don't you go too; stay here on the spot I mark with my finger, so that I'll know exactly where to start when I come back. Do you see what I mean?" So, as with the mouse, it was a long time before Colman put the understanding of the fly to the test. He probably provided the insect with treats as he did the mouse—perhaps a single drop of honey or crumb of cake. One day Colman was called to attend a visitor. He pointed the spot on the manuscript where he had stopped and asked the fly to stay there until he returned. The fly did as the saint requested, obediently remaining still for over an hour. Colman was delighted. Thereafter, he often gave the faithful fly a little task that it was proud to do for him. The other monks thought it was such a marvel that they wrote it down in the monastery records, which is how we know about it. But a fly's life is short. At the end of summer, Colman's little friend was dead. While still mourning the death of the fly, the mouse died, too, as did the rooster. Colman's heart was so heavy at the loss of his last pet that he wrote to his friend Saint Columba. Columba responded: "You were too rich when you had them. That is why you are sad now. Trouble like that only comes where there are riches. Be rich no more." Colman then realised that one can be rich without any money (Curtayne-Linnane). See also Early Christian Ireland References 560 births 632 deaths Irish Christian monks 7th-century Christian saints Christian clergy from County Galway Medieval Irish saints 6th-century Irish priests 7th-century Irish abbots