Long ago, the grass on the Isle of Iona
grew so tall it nearly touched the bottom of the sky. The grass kingdom was most proud of the grand towers, fortresses, and temples it built, one pebble and one stone at a time. The grass boasted that nothing could move these creations—not even
the wind.
The highest of these fortresses was the
hill that is now called Dun I, but which the grass called the Tower
to Heaven. The grass built it so that everyone who lived on the island
and who could see it from afar knew of the grass kingdom's power.
The islands of Tiree and Coll, to the
west, saw the pride of the grass kingdom. Assigned to be caretakers
of Iona by the Maker of All Things, Tiree and Coll realized that the island's pride would one day destroy the isle and spread to other lands. So Tiree
and Coll summoned the north and west winds to blow on Iona until the
grass was cut. For one week, a terrible storm blew. Blade by blade,
the tall grass scattered into the air, forming a bridge across the
waves to the Isle of Mull.
The inhabitants of Iona—for there
were people who lived here even then—escaped across the bridge. But
before the storm reached its peak, some of the islanders built a
cairn on top of the Tower to Heaven to remember the grass kingdom. They grasped
some of the pieces of grass that flailed in the wind, cupped it in
their hands, and whispered into it, and then dug the grass in
the cairn, hoping that one day, they or their descendants would
return, find the cairn, and hear their message.
Ages passed, and nothing grew on Iona. All that remained were boulders and stony ruins. But during this time
of deep stillness and silence, when no wind blew on the isle, and
when nobody dared visit it, the Maker of All Things looked with favor on
Iona, and called the north and west winds to blow gently on the land. When this happened, some pieces of the grass in the cairn on
the Tower to Heaven drifted across the island and buried themselves in the ground. Then it rained for many days: a soft, gentle rain. The grass began to
grow again, and soon people and other living beings returned to the
island.
If you climb Dun I and press your ear against the cairn,
or if you listen to the grass swaying in the north and west wind, you
may hear the message of the people who once lived here, a
prayer that one day the grass kingdom would grow again, only this
time, it would use its strength to feed and nourish others, and would grow in praise to the Maker
of All Things.
With thanks to Miriam
